


Turbulance

by JollyIceMuncher



Category: RWBY, 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime), 鬼滅の刃 | Kimetsu no Yaiba (Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Badass Penny Polendina, Blake Belladonna does shenanigans, Cinder Fall is less obviously nefarious, Dimension Travel, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Good Sibling Jaune Arc, Humor, Huntsmen are actually a thing and are competent, Light Angst, Nora Valkyrie is a drill instructor and she's kind of terrifying?, POV Tomioka Giyuu, Ruby Rose is a Ray of Sunshine, Tomioka Giyuu Needs a Hug, Tomioka Giyuu broods, Tomioka Giyuu-centric, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Weiss Schnee is the team mom by the point tbh, Yang Xiao Long Being Yang Xiao Long
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:07:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29629545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JollyIceMuncher/pseuds/JollyIceMuncher
Summary: Shortly after being promoted to Hashira, a 16 year old Giyuu Tomioka finds himself unceremoniously dropped right into another world, and right into the heart of another brewing conflict.
Relationships: Blake Belladona/being absolutely horrible at hiding her secret, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen/alcohol, Ruby Rose/the fabulous and eternal power of friendship and sunshine and rainbows, Team JNPR & Team RWBY, Tomioka Giyuu & Kochou Shinobu (Mentioned), Tomioka Giyuu & Ruby Rose, Tomioka Giyuu & Sabito (Mentioned), Tomioka Giyuu & Team RWBY, Undisclosed - Relationship, Weiss Schnee/losing fights (maybe???), Yang Xiao Long/a baseball bat to bonk her in the head, bumblebee maybe???
Comments: 10
Kudos: 35





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own neither KNY or RWBY

Giyuu Tomioka's promotion to the rank of _Hashira_ was a rather sombre business. The previous Hashira had died in a recent assignment, killed by a horde of demons that had overpowered her in an ambush. And so it was up to a 16 year old boy who was thoroughly unqualified for the position to take up the role.

It said quite a lot about how stretched the demon slayers were. The audacity of an unprepared, woefully unqualified child to become the water pillar. The ceremony had been conducted at the dead of night with only two people: Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the leader of the demon slayer corps, and of course, himself.

It was strange how only a few years ago, he would have strived for this position and would have been _gleeful_ to accept it. Naive. Foolish. He was almost criminally foolish then, and perhaps he still was, considering he had accepted the rank in the end. It was an inevitable thing. Even if he also knew that he didn't deserve the position of a Hashira, he also knew that at the current moment he was the best in line for the role.

Still, he couldn't accept the position. Technically he was a pillar, but he wouldn't accept it truly until he had earnt himself that position.

But with the ghost of a pink haired heroic demon slayer trailing behind him, constantly reminding him of his inadequacy, perhaps he would never reach that point in life. Not until he died, which considering the average lifespan of a demon slayer, was presumably not very far away.

The previous Hashira had been skilled after all. But skill could only do so much when you risked your life every waking moment you had. Eventually, everyone's luck would run out. Just like the previous Hashira, just like the dozens of demon slayers he had personally known who had died on missions.

Just like a certain pink haired _fool_.

A fool that he would constantly have to chase no matter what. A fool he couldn't help but _admire_ more than anything else.

Giyuu twitched. A wave of emotion flooded him. Nostalgia from old memories, sadness out of what he could never achieve, anger for the concept of death. Anger because his only confidant had the guile to get himself killed for the sake of swordsmen that wouldn't last a year anyway.

_Giyuu, I know that these guys are probably gonna die later on in the field. But if I see them in danger and don't jump in to help, what kind of person would that make me?_

He clenched his fists.

"A fool," he whispered. "It makes you a fool."

Because here he was, sitting in a room that was part of a house that was too big for him, with a blade that he had only been able to hone from the blood of those who had given their lives to save him, and with a position that _someone else_ deserved. Someone who was sociable and heroic and confident. Someone who didn't need to be saved.

What kind of pillar would he be if he was always going to be the one being helped? If others would always be the ones sacrificing _their_ lives for his?

The wind twisted and turned in the air, changing directions rapidly. It felt almost spiritual with its timing.

That night, Giyuu slept with his Haori on, his sword clutched to his side. It was his only link to the past, after all. His only link to the boy who frankly- should have been where he was now.

* * *

Fate was a funny little thing. The most skilled of warriors could be fated to die, and the most bumbling child could inevitably save the world. Similarly, Giyuu Tomioka had never been destined for greatness. Eventual happiness, perhaps. But the role of saving the world would always be left to another boy no matter what. A boy with a goal in his mind and a head as hard as steel.

It was inevitable. In one way or the other, Tanjiro Kamado would kill Muzan Kibutsuji. It was an event that was a constant no matter what would happen.

But sometimes, a river can indeed fluctuate. Throw a stone into a river and it ripples. Throw a bucketful of lava into it and it possibly flat out stops becoming a river altogether.

And as Giyuu Tomioka slept that night, the winds simply wouldn't stop changing direction.

* * *

It was a growl of a wolf that woke him up.

A wolf. Growling.

Giyuu's eyes snapped wide open, his vision instantly being filled with sunlight. _Crap! Since when was I outside? Didn't I go to sleep inside of a house? And grass? Why do I feel grass under me? Why is there a wolf growling? Is this some sort of demon blood art?_

Despite the blinding light that briefly killed his vision, he did his best to stand up. If a demon had attacked him and trapped him in a blood art while he was asleep, he was in danger. Large danger, and so were the rest of the demon slayer corps. Quickly unsheathing his sword, he honed his ears with practiced ease and flicked his eyes from left to right, trying to find the wolf that he had very clearly heard.

_Now where- there it is!_

The wolf- which despite sounding like the familiar animal sure didn't _look_ like a wolf at all, was an alien looking creature with a skull mask and pitch black fur and bones protruding from its limbs. It also positively did not look like any sort of demon Giyuu had ever encountered in his life, despite giving off the same hostile aura.

Demons were green, with occasionally purple and white color schemes. Demons were definitely not pitch black with red and yellow skull masks. Demons also never had fur, at least to his personal experience. _Maybe this is just something rare that I've never seen before?_

That was when the other wolves joined in. Immediately after noticing the first wolf, Giyuu found himself surrounded on all sides by similar creatures. _Alright, so it travels in packs. That's strange, then. I've seen tons of demons so far as a demon slayer. Why wouldn't I have encountered one that looks even remotely similar to this?_

Before he could finish the thought, the wolves pounced.

Giyuu narrowed his eyes, thankful that he had mastered constant total concentration breathing a year before. It saved him a precious moment that he could use to otherwise think. But this time, it was a demon he had never encountered before in his life. It _looked_ like an easy kill, but he would have to be careful.

Overconfidence was a demon slayer's most fatal enemy. And he was a _Hashira_ , like it or not. He wouldn't get himself killed this easily out of arrogance.

The first wolf jumped. It was a straightforward, obvious attack that felt animalistic in the way that most lower demons did. _From what I can tell so far, these creatures aren't intelligent. At best, they want to kill me and nothing more. They have no sense of actual tactics other than perhaps moving and attacking in a pack._

And in that case...

When the second wolf pounced a split second after Giyuu sidestepped the first wolf's attack, the swordsman twirled his blade towards his side, the point of the _ninchirin_ sword soon finding itself embedded inside the head of the demonic seeming creature. Giyuu let out a sigh of relief. So these creatures were weak after all, it seemed. His sword sliced through them almost _too_ easily, even easier than the lowest level demons.

That was good. For a brief moment, he had feared that the wolf would have some form of impenetrable skin. And now that he could confirm that the creatures were indeed easy to kill, he could dispatch the situation quickly and efficiently.

_Water breathing, Second form! Water wheel!_

With a flourish and a spin, Giyuu spun his blade horizontally, a trail of ocean blue water following the blade to create a perfect circle that expanded outwards, cutting everything in its path. The wheel of water bisected the wolves with deadly efficiency, the creatures dissipating after their collective death.

_Just like a demon_ , Giyuu immediately thought. Except this felt oddly different in a way. Perhaps it was the color difference, but the way that these creatures dissipated didn't look like how other demons dissipated. _And now that I think about it, many of these creatures are dead even though I didn't cut their necks..._ Giyuu felt his mind stir at that. _Could this be a new, stranger breed of demons?_

That wouldn't be good. If these were newer versions of demons created by Muzan, then even if these particular ones were weak, that would also mean that there were _stronger_ ones out there. That meant more and more trouble for the demon slayer corps. More and more dead corpsmen.

This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all.

Giyuu sheathed his sword, making sure to position it so that he could draw it as quickly as possible if he needed it. And then, he looked towards the direction the first wolf had come from and sprinted forwards. He didn't have an exact plan yet, but in his defense, he wasn't sure _how_ he was supposed to get out of whatever blood art this demon had created.

And he wasn't about to sit in an exposed clearing like a sitting duck waiting to get ambushed. Right now, keeping himself moving was the best idea that he had, and going in the direction of the first wolf seemed like the most natural choice available at the moment.

Total concentration breathing enhanced his physical abilities as he jumped from tree to tree, finding the forwards momentum he got from pushing off a faster alternative to running. On the way forward, he encountered a few more wolves and the occasional demonic bear, both of which he dispatched rather easily.

Still, there didn't seem to be an end in sight.

Giyuu stopped, landing on the floor in a small clearing.

_Maybe I'm thinking of this too literally? This seems to be the obvious work of a blood demon art. So obviously the solution to these problems wouldn't be obvious. But what could I do? Stab my sword into the ground and try to break the illusion? Is there a hidden spot? Something I've missed, maybe?_

He rubbed the back of his head in frustration. It was both deadly and extremely frustrating how varied and strange some blood demon arts could be. This one wasn't deadly to him so far, but it could soon _turn_ extremely deadly, or even possibly trap him here for an indefinite amount of time. _Is that even possible? There must be some way to get out of this, right?_

That was when the scorpion showed up.

Damn his luck.

Crashing the biggest tree in the area as it raced towards his location, the giant scorpion demon, a demon with the same color scheme as the bear and the wolf, crawled towards him. Immediately, Giyuu could notice that this one was stronger. _Much_ stronger, at least compared to the previous two.

He doubted that it would be too much of a challenge either, but he would still be careful. There was no room for mistakes when fighting a demon.

Quickly brandishing his sword, he raised it in a defensive stance, ready to block and counterattack whatever the demon would send his way. _Considering this one looks like a scorpion, I'll probably have to watch out for its pincer and front arms. It might be poisonous too, so I'll have to be careful not to be hit._

Especially since the tip of its pincer was bright yellow. He would have to watch out for that part especially. _Maybe if I wait for it to attack me first, then attack? I'll probably be able to cut off the pincer with no problem. It looks like it's the thinnest part of the beast._

And attack it did. With deadly speed that surprised even the water Hashira, the demonic creature stabbed forwards with its pincer, the deadly yellow tip flying towards his face. Giyuu responded immediately, jumping directly upwards and forwards to avoid the attack.

_And now! Water breathing, first form! Water surface slash!_

Mid air, he flipped his body forwards and prepared his sword before slicing downwards, a stream of water once again trailing his blade. Although the tail gave much more resistance than the wolf or the bear, the _ninchirin_ blade tore through the creature's tail with deadly speed.

The creature stumbled backwards, howling in pain. Giyuu quickly took the opportunity that he had to finish off the creature, landing on the ground a decent distance away from the scorpion demon before employing water breathing technique to close the distance between him and the creature.

_Ninth form: Splashing water flow!_

The ninth form of water breathing was one that was fairly underused in combat in his opinion. While it was less... orthrodox compared to simply slicing off a demon's head, the technique was certainly useful, and he had found himself using it quite often in more drawn out fights and fights where he was clearly outnumbered.

Running speed and mobility made a huge difference.

Quickly closing the distance between the demon and himself, Giyuu jumped, ending the breathing technique as he landed on the beast's body. _Usually I would aim for the neck, but considering this particular breed of monsters don't seem to require decapitation, I think an easier way to kill it would be to simply stab it in a vital area._

Once again pushing himself upwards with a jump and a flip, the water Hashira found himself staring down directly at the middle of the scorpion's head. Flourishing his sword once more, he aimed downwards.

_Water breathing, eighth_ _form! Waterfall basin!_

Water trailing the ninchirin blade one last time, Giyuu drove his ninchirin blade vertically down into the scorpion beast's head, the blade of the sword cutting through the armor and directly into the head. Immediately afterwards, the creature's head blew apart with an explosion of water, killing it instantly.

The demon slayer sheathed his blade as the monster dissipated. That was when he noticed a new figure, hiding in the trees. _Is that... A person?_

He gripped his sword, preparing to attack or defend at any given moment. These monsters were generally easier to dispatch than high level demons. But people? A humanoid shape indicated a _demon_ demon, the type of demon he was almost intimately familiar with by now.

The figure emerged from the trees slowly but steadily, and Giyuu didn't take his hand off of his sword.

And then, the figure came into view completely, his arms raised.

"Might wanna put down the sword, kid. There's really no need to be angry, we're all fighting grimm around these parts, right?" said the man. The man who didn't look like a demon at all. In fact, he looked more like an ordinary person, albeit a bit overly lanky. _Also, grimm? Are those the monsters that I found?_

Giyuu didn't release his grip. He eyed the man carefully, trying to look for any slip-ups. _It's not possible that demons can imitate actual humans inside their arts, right? Can they?_

The uncertainty was more frustrating than ever.

"How do I know that you aren't a demon in disguise?" Giyuu carefully asked. The man looked at him with a curious expression.

"Demons? Like the monsters that your mom tells you about in fairy tales? They aren't real, kid. Only the grimm are." said the man. "Or is that what you call them in Mistral? Never been 'round that part of the world for too long just yet, so I dunno about the names and language there."

"Mistral?" Giyuu asked, before carefully proceeding with a, "How do I get out of this place? Are you trapped in here as well?"

"H- huh?"

"My name is... Sanju Takahashi," he lied, deciding to conceal his name just in case, "I am a... I am a mizunoto from the demon slayer corps. Considering your age, how long have you been trapped in this place?"

The man looked frustrated. "Look kid," he said, "I have no clue what the fuck you're talking about. My name's Qrow Branwen, I'm a huntsman from Vale, I came here on an assignment and found you passing by. I'm not trapped anywhere, and neither are you for that matter."

Giyuu narrowed his eyes.

"Then get me out of here," he ordered. "Tell me how to release myself from this demon art."

There was a high chance he was being led into a trap, but at the moment he had no spare options, and this was his best lead forward. He didn't like it, but he didn't see any other option. This man was the only person- possibly Demon- that was capable of speaking to him, after all.

The man sighed.

"All right then. You're weird and annoying as shit, but I'll lead you to the bullheads." said the man before he turned around and started walking onwards. _He's showing his back to me? Could that be a sign that he's actually a human being? Or is he simply trying to get me to let my guard down?_

He noticed the strange contraption stuck to the man's belt. It almost looked like a weapon, except it didn't seem to follow any conventional rule for a weapon at all. It didn't look like a sword, axe, bow, or anything for that matter. But it had bladed edges and a handle which Giyuu assumed was for gripping.

The two travelled in silence for a brief while, the man occasionally taking a drink out of a flask full of what Giyuu assumed was water.

Or at least, he hoped it was water.

A demon slayer drinking alcohol in the middle of a mission? _Him_ especially?

It was pure insanity.

"Hey kid," Branwen called out, interrupting his thoughts. "We're here. Get into one of these bullheads and it'll take you to Patch. I don't have the time to deal with you right now, so look for a blonde guy that looks stupid."

Stepping out of the clearing, Giyuu saw... things that he couldn't quite understand. The "bullheads" that Branwen had talked about were clearly gigantic, metallic things, perched on the smooth grass. But why? Giyuu didn't quite understand the purpose of having such huge chunks of metal. _Are they like... train carts? Is that how I can get out of this? I suppose that could work... metaphorically..._

Sighing, he finally pushed down his paranoia to the best of his ability before stepping towards the giant metal carriage. _Look for a dumb looking blonde man? That's... not really descriptive at all. What does a stupid man look like? What does a stupid blonde man look like...? What does this even have to do with getting out of here? Is this some kind of trap?_

As he approached the carriage, the door opened automatically, making him stop in surprise. _Gee,_ he thought, _all this new technology stuff really is impressive. Maybe I should actually listen to Shinobu about all of this stuff, it could actually be pretty helpful... as irritating as she may be sometimes._

Inside the carriage were cushioned seats. Giyuu sat himself down in one, feeling rather awkward inside the carriage. _Though how would it move? I don't see any train tracks anywhere, maybe it's hidden?_

"Alright, we're taking off to Patch!" announced a voice from the front, making him jump in surprise. _Alright, definitely talking to Shinobu. Aren't I supposed to be young or something? I should really probably keep up with this stuff..._

And then, the carriage lifted _upwards_.

Giyuu snapped his eyes wide open, gazing out of the window as the ground and the surface became smaller and smaller. _Flight? People can make machines that fly now? Since when? Surely an invention like this would be something that everyone should be aware of if it exists and is used like this, right?_

_Right?_

But even stranger than the fact that he was _flying_ inside a machine, which was something hard enough to beat on its own, was the sight that he was getting from inside of it. From the higher perspective he now had, he could very clearly see both the forest that he had woke up in, along with... everything else.

A city. A city with almost futuristic looking buildings, filled with people, and surrounded by tall walls that Giyuu suspected were built to keep out whatever monsters he had encountered in the forest. Grimm. That was what Branwen had called them. Grimm, not demons.

And to the left was the strangest sight of all. A tall, majestic looking full on _castle._ One that stood tall and clean and proud like a beacon of hope and pride inside the city.

Giyuu sunk into his seat, a sinking feeling inside his stomach.

He had the oddest, most terrifying thought that he wasn't in Japan anymore.

And even worse, he was now fairly sure that he wasn't inside a demon art either.


	2. Meet the family!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giyuu finds himself in Patch, and also happens to finds a stupid looking blonde man.

"We're landing in Patch in about 5 minutes! Prepare for landing kid! The winds are pretty strong today so getting down from here might be just a bit rough!" exclaimed the pilot of the bullhead. Giyuu simply nodded, unsure what it meant to prepare for landing. _Is there... some kind of thing I have to do? How do I prepare to land...? Maybe I should just..._

Giyuu sighed, simply reclining back in his seat. Being a veteran demon slayer, he usually didn't find himself in situations where he was unsure of what to do. It was always relatively simple. If there was a demon, he would slice its head off. If there was a bed, he would sleep. If there was food, he would eat.

If there was someone ordering him to prepare for landing inside a strange, futuristic vehicle he didn't know was even possible? Then some problems started to arise. _Think about this logically Giyuu. What would you do if you're up inside a giant carriage in the air, and you were about to go straight downwards? You obviously wouldn't want to get ejected out of the carrier, so you would probably hold on tight, right?_

But that depended on the speed and the direction of the descent. _Maybe there's some special procedure that I don't know about? Should I just... look around? Maybe there's some sort of manual? Everyone has a first time riding one of these things, right? I can't be the only one unfamiliar with procedures..._

Darting his eyes left and right, he looked for any sort of instruction guide regarding vehicle procedures. _Oh, there it is._

Leaning forward, he picked up the sheet of... paper? It didn't feel anything like the papers he had felt before. And yet it had words and paintings on it and it was very obviously not a canvas that artists typically used. Still, it felt awfully smooth and... strange. He couldn't quite put it into words but it wasn't normal paper for sure.

He glanced at the words on the paper, thankful that it was at least in symbols he could understand. _Hm. Emergency landing position? Well, I don't think this is an emergency. But there's nothing else on the paper about preparing for landing, and surely if it's an emergency then it should be even safer for normal landings, right?_

He stopped. Then glanced at the symbols again. _Strange. I can understand this text, even if it's clearly not Japanese._

 _Eh_ , he thought. _I guess it's just some side effect of whatever demon art, or whatever strange force put me in this situation. Maybe I'm in a dream?_ He pinched his cheeks, clearly feeling the slight pressure. _No, definitely not a dream. So it's either a very impressive demon art or I've just been catapulted to the future, judging by all this strange technology._

Putting the manual back in the seat pocket, Giyuu made his best effort to copy the position illustrated in the instructions. Planting his feet firmly on the ground and crouching downwards with his hands stacked on top of each other on his Finally, he bent his head down so he was looking directly at the ground.

"Alright, beginning descent!" yelled the pilot. Giyuu sighed in relief. _I did this position just in time. Hopefully I'm following procedures correctly, though considering I'm new to all of this..._

The bullhead vehicle began to fly down. Giyuu slightly widened his eyes as the vehicle's interior went down along with it, giving him a strange, slightly nervous feeling in his stomach. _Is this normal? The pilot seems to know what he's doing, but this feels just a bit-_

The plane touched the ground once more. Giyuu thankfully stayed effortlessly plastered to his seat, his training as a demon slayer paying off. _There was a lot of upwards force during that. Are people here just really heavy? Or is there some way that they're able to stick to the ground? Normally I would expect someone to jump up just a little bit judging by the force the vehicle had when it landed._

"Alright, we've arrived at Patch." said the pilot as he fiddled with the controls, seemingly concluding the last of the operations needed during a flight. Quickly afterwards, he turned back and looked at him. "You ok there, kid? Sorry if the landing was a bit rough, this is actually one of my first jobs as a bullhead- Huh?"

Giyuu glanced upwards. The pilot had the strangest look on his face. "Kid, what in the world are you doing?" asked the older man. "And why don't you have a seatbelt on?"

"Huh?" Giyuu asked, releasing his position and straightening his posture. "Sorry, this is my first time on a vehicle like this. I thought the manual said that this is the position you're supposed to maintain?" he apologized, trying to keep his tone as formal as possible. He was being serviced here after all, so it would be imprudent of him to not show respect.

"Kid, that's the emergency landing procedure. Usually you'll just be fine if your seatbelt's on." said the pilot.

"The seatbelt?" he asked.

"That thing behind your seat. You can tug on it and click it with the lock on your side."

Giyuu did as prompted, finding the black strap and tugging on it. Looking down, he found a strange contraption that seemed to be what the pilot was referencing. Pulling the seatbelt down, he brought it to the lock. It connected with a satisfying _click_ sound and didn't release when he let go.

"See? Gee, shoulda asked me about all of this before you tried reading the emergency manual. Woulda made things much easier, don't ya think?"

The 16 year old Hashira could only let out a quiet, "Ah."

* * *

There were lots of people in Patch, it seemed. Definitely not as much as a large city in Japan, but it was at the very least the size of a large enough village. Overall, it was... a nice place. Giyuu had been to many villages personally before, but his assignments were almost always during nighttime. Most people were sleeping by then, so it wasn't like he got to meet too many people.

His own village, well, obviously he didn't have the greatest of memories. It had been home to him for his early years, but it left a bitter aftertaste in his mind. Him and his old neighborhood hadn't parted on the greatest of terms, and frankly he didn't have any ties he could call back on anyways.

Still, Patch was nice. The people seemed to wear their heart on their sleeves, and it overall brought a very familiar, cozy feeling despite the fact that he was a complete stranger. He had been cautious before, but he was now fairly confident that whatever situation he had landed himself into wasn't the work of a demon. A demon could replicate environments and obstacles and dangers, sure.

But trust? Family? Home? Those were concepts completely foreign to them. The close the creatures would ever come to understanding things like that were superficial at best. Giyuu was confident that they wouldn't be able to even come close to replicating the overall sense of friendliness that seemed to radiate from this place.

Still, while it was nice to simply observe the village, the downside to all of that was the fact that now he was having trouble looking for a stupid looking blonde man. Inwardly, he cursed Branwen for giving him what was frankly the most interpretive description to describe a man.

Right now he was looking for a human male that was one, blonde, two, goofy looking, and three, most likely an adult. Although frankly the second descriptor was questionable as well. But at least he could somewhat visualize someone goofy looking. Stupid looking on the other hand was... extremely vague. Not to mention slightly insulting. _I really don't think whoever this person is would be pleased to be called stupid looking..._

After wandering around the village for a few minutes, he decided he would try his luck at asking one of the villagers living there.

Picking out a red haired woman to the left of him, he walked up to her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to him, and he cleared his throat.

"Would you happen to know a man named Qrow Branwen?" he asked. _It'll probably be best to start with that. At least with Branwen I have a name. I don't think anyone would appreciate someone walking up to them and asking them where to find a stupid looking blonde man..._

"Qrow? What's he up to this time?" asked the woman. Giyuu sighed in relief. _So she knows him, thank goodness. It looks like I'll actually be able to find whoever this man is._

"Sorry if this sounds rude, but, he told me to find a erm..."

Giyuu coughed, slightly embarrassed.

"A stupid looking blonde man. Would you happen to know a man he would describe like that?"

The woman put a hand to her chin, looking slightly thoughtful for a moment before inhaling deeply slapping her palm over her forehead. Hard.

Giyuu blinked. _Is... she ok?_

"That stupid drunkard," whispered the woman. "Don't worry, kiddo. I know just who he's talking about. Follow me and I'll lead you to him. And don't you worry, I'll give him a good slapping for giving you all this trouble. I'm Maryland Bloom, professor of dust studies at Signal Academy. You don't look like any of my students, but you can call me Ms. Bloom anyway."

Giyuu bowed his head lightly in thanks. "Thank you. My name is Tomioka Giyuu," he said, wondering whether he was supposed to add something. He decided against it. Usually, introducing oneself as a demon slayer to a person involved with an incident was recommended. It was a title that helped people calm down. Helped people know they were safe. But here, the title of Demon Slayer meant just about as little as the title of Hashira, which naturally meant that it held zero meaning whatsoever.

"Well Giyuu, just follow me and you should be aaall fine."

In a way, he couldn't deny that it was nice to not feel that pressure on his shoulders, at least for a little while.

* * *

"Alright, we're here! The guy that Qrow told you about is someone named Taiyang Xiao Long. He lives over here." said Bloom. Giyuu nodded, giving her a bow of thanks before walking forwards. Immediately afterwards, he screeched to a halt and froze in place.

"Isn't it a bit..." he started.

"Huh? Got some more questions, kid?" Bloom asked.

"Wouldn't it be a bit disrespectful of me to simply stride down and enter his house?" Giyuu asked. Between the members of the corps, it was customary to never enter another's household unless one was invited or was a close friend of the owner of said house. Giyuu assumed that rule was the same for well... everyone. Right now, his position was that of a stranger, and he was about to simply stride into a man's house like nothing.

"Nah, Tai doesn't really mind. Dude's chill with pretty much everything, actually. And besides," explained Bloom, "Don't ya think Qrow would at least notify the man before throwing you off to his general direction?"

"No." Giyuu answered honestly. _Was that a bit too blunt? She might be friends with him..._

Thankfully, Bloom seemed to take it in good humor and snorted. "Actually yeah," she responded, nodding. "You might have a point there shortsack. Good instincts. Number one rule 'round Remnant is to never trust a Branwen to do anything that's considered common sense."

_Shortsack?_

Now that he looked at it, he _was_ shorter than the redheaded woman. Actually, more than anything he was generally shorter than... lots of adults in Patch, though he wasn't so sure about the people his age. _Maybe it's just that Patch has lots of tall people?_ he wondered. He had been considered of a decent height in Japan, standing over at least the majority of people. Here though, he felt rather dwarfed.

"You _didn't_ notify him!?" Bloom's voice interrupted his thoughts. The red haired professor was now holding a strange, rectangular device over her ear, seemingly yelling at it. _What... is she doing? I suppose that's another strange piece of technology that I'm completely unaware of?_

"Qrow, you sent a teenage, _black haired_ faunus kid that looks about as old as Ruby, with a sword that looks like _that_ , striding over to Tai's house?" Bloom exclaimed before quickly putting a hand to her face and pinching her nose. "Wait, what? AND he has does shit with water? The hell does that have to do with anything?! Qrow, get off the damn booze!"

Giyuu heard a distinct, "I'll be fiiine, and besides, the kid can handle his own." followed by a, "I'm like 95% sure he's not _actually_ Raven's kid. If he was, he would've attacked me by now, and he would also probably be in a hospital bed. Trust me, these things work out in the end. Just trust the kid!"

"Branwen, that better not be an excuse for getting drunk and forgetting to do something as basic as sending a text message."

Giyuu only heard a snarky laugh in return.

Sighing, Bloom pocketed her device. "Sorry kiddo, lemme just text Tai and then we can actually ditch you off. You got any idea _why_ Qrow wanted to send you there?"

Giyuu shook his head. For all he knew, Taiyang was... a stupid looking blonde man. He wasn't sure why Qrow wanted him to head over to him, nor did he know who in the world Taiyang actually was. _Actually, I'm kind of curious what he actually does look like. What kind of person looks... stupid...?_

Although to be fair, considering everything that he knew about the man, he wasn't sure whether he could even trust Branwen's description.

Before Bloom could pull out her device once more though, a new voice interrupted the conversation. Giyuu turned towards the source of it to see a tall man with sandy blonde hair and asymmetrical clothing. _Is that Taiyang? In that case, I'm not sure whether he would qualify as looking stupid..._

"Hey there! You're the kid that Qrow told me to get, right? You have the sword that he said you would have!" said the man. _Ah, so it is Taiyang,_ Giyuu mentally noted as the blonde man walked towards them. "Name's Taiyang Xiao Long, kid. I can take it from here, Mary. Thanks for your help."

"Wait, what!?" yelled the woman. "I didn't even notify yoouuu..." she trailed off, before scowling. "You... got a message from Qrow, right?"

Taiyang simply pulled out a device from his pocket, a similar looking one to Bloom's. He waved it around, showing the contents of the screen. "He sent me a heads-up a couple hours ago, yeah. Wait, were you arguing with Qrow on the phone just now?"

"You heard me?!"

"Well yeah," laughed Taiyang. "If you didn't notice by now, you're not exactly the most silent person on this island."

Bloom punched her forehead, taking deep breaths. "The next time I see that motherfu-"

"Oi, language! We got a kid here!" scolded Taiyang. "Anyways, thanks for all the help, Mary. Qrow's a bit hard sometimes, but he knows what he's doing... most of the time anyway. Get some chill time before you try and punch my brother in law, capiche?"

"Yeah, I think I might just do that. Good luck with the kid, Tai." said Bloom before she turned the other direction and walked away. _What an odd woman..._

After Bloom's figure had disappeared behind a street corner, Giyuu turned around and got a better look at the person Branwen had 'dumped' him onto. _A bit sheepish looking, tall, has a built figure. Looks like he has plenty of fighting experience too, judging by the scars on the arms. Pretty weird sense of fashion, but..._

"Definitely not stupid looking." he muttered to himself.

"Huh, what was that?" Taiyang asked, whipping around to face his direction. "I heard stupid looking." he said.

"Branwen told me to find a stupid looking blonde man. I was just saying that you don't look too stupid." Giyuu said. Taiyang paused, before the man let out a chortle.

"Yeah," he chuckled, "that sounds just like what Qrow would say. C'mon now, let's get you inside. Though you should probably tell me a little bit about yourself later on. Qrow doesn't usually dump random teenagers onto my house, so you must be someone worth his stuff, right?"

Giyuu shrugged before he followed the man over to the medium sized house surrounded by a grassy field.

_So he really just laughed it off. I didn't mean to put it so bluntly like that, but he seemed to take it pretty well. They must be really close friends, huh? Although Taiyang did say that they were brothers in law, so that might have to do with something..._

Eventually, the two reached a wooden door that Taiyang promptly pushed open. "By the way, my full name is Taiyang Xiao Long, but you can just call me Tai if you want. Mr. Xiao Long makes me feel old."

"I can do that." Giyuu agreed. Although to be fair, calling the older man _Tai_ left a strange taste in his mouth. It almost felt as if though he would approach Kagaya Ubuyashiki... and call him something like _Kags_. Giyuu internally shuddered at the thought. That particular thought felt like at least ten degrees of wrong.

He decided that he would just try to avoid saying the man's name. Hopefully, nobody would notice.

Before Giyuu stepped into the house, he quickly took off his shoes. _Do I just set them... on the ground? On the grass? I don't really see any place that I..._

"Kid, why in the world are you taking off your shoes?" Taiyang's voice interrupted.

Giyuu stopped, before noticing that in fact, Taiyang had actually _not_ taken off his own footwear. Quickly, Giyuu put his own shoes back on. _Ah, do people... not take of their shoes before they enter the house in Patch? I suppose that's... really just another difference from what I'm used to. Although it does feel strange..._

 _I guess I should probably explain myself at least,_ he thought. He pointed towards his shoes. "I've been running inside a forest. I don't think it would be appropriate to muddy the floor."

"Huh? Oh, so that's what Qrow meant when he said you lived under a rock, huh? Don't worry about that, basically every house in Remnant can't get muddy shoes at all." explained Taiyang. "Here, just step inside and you'll see what happens. I think you might find it pretty cool, actually."

Hesitantly, Giyuu stepped foot inside the house. Immediately, his shoes gained an ounce of weight, before said weight disappeared. Looking down, he noticed that the once muddy boots were now squeaky clean. His eyes widened. _It... instantly cleaned the grime? That's truly impressive. Technology's seriously advanced beyond what I even imagined..._

"Every house in Remnant has this?" he sputtered out, not quite able to keep the surprise from reaching his usually much more monotone voice.

Taiyang chuckled before nodding. "Yup. This is pretty old tech, actually. Some weird combination of water and air dust that lets it do this. Doesn't work for clothes, though. Only for smaller things like shoes."

"Ah," Giyuu nodded in acknowledgement once more. Taiyang laughed good naturedly.

"Never thought I'd see the day someone would look so impressed by a shoe cleaner. Anyways, you can step inside. There are some people excited to meet you." said Taiyang. Giyuu quickly nodded before hurriedly stepping inside the house fully. _I wonder how this sort of technology could be used in combat applications... If instantly cleaning things are possible, then what would this sort of advancement do in terms of weapons or tools?_

Giyuu trailed behind the man, still feeling slightly intrusive. The man seemed rather nonchalant about the entire ordeal, but he was well... he was practically an alien to these people. He was certainly one to this environment as well. _Oh right, he mentioned something about dust?_

"How does dust do something like that?" he hesitantly asked. Taiyang turned to him and briefly fell into thought. Afterwards, the man shrugged.

"Dunno," he said. "I'm not really a scientist if you couldn't tell. But just pour in some water and air dust when you need to and the device works pretty well."

"Water and air dust?" he asked, slightly baffled. _Since when could... dust mites have elemental properties?_

"Yup," Taiyang replied, popping the 'p.' "I can give you some books on dust later on if you want. Ruby never bothered to read'em save for the part about combat applications. You might be pretty interested, though."

"Thank you." Giyuu said, lightly bowing his head. "I don't want to give you too much of a hassle, but I would appreciate that."

Taiyang simply chuckled as he walked along. "Alright. Now you should probably stay back just a few steps. I don't think anything'll happen, but my girls are, erm... Energetic."

Giyuu cocked his head sideways in confusion. "Energetic?" he mumbled to himself. _Energetic enough to be... dangerous? Well I suppose that if what I've seen of Patch so far is true, the people here have quite... striking personalities. I guess I could assume the same could be true about whoever Taiyang is referring to._

"DAD!" a new, high pitched voice interrupted the silence, snapping him out of his thoughts. _Oh, whoever this is, at the very least she certainly does sound energetic._ "You're back!"

Before Giyuu could even blink, a black and red mass _slammed_ into the blonde man, making both of the two males in the room stumble backwards. Taiyang from the surprising new weight on his arm, and Giyuu from sheer surprise. The next thing he knew, there was a black haired girl practically attached to the blonde man, her hair reddening at the tips. _Is that... a natural color?_

"Heya Ruby," the man awkwardly said. "By the way, I brought the guy that Qrow was-"

Her eyes shifted to him. _Silver eyes,_ he noticed. _What a strange eye color._

He briefly considered waving a greeting. The girl promptly cut off that line of thought as she suddenly turned into a black and red mass once more and speeded towards him at breakneck speeds. Immediately, his years of experience fighting with superhuman monsters kicked in through his instincts. Years of combat intuition standing by his side, Giyuu quickly stepped lightly to the side, the girl- Ruby- speeding right past him and into the- _Oh._

A loud bump echoed across the house, followed by an "Ow!"

Not a second later, Taiyang made a whistling noise, impressed.

Giyuu himself was quite lost on what to do. Hesitantly, he took a step towards the girl sheepishly rubbing the top of her head, a hand raised in apology. _What... am I supposed to do here? Do I apologize? Should I explain myself? How would I phrase... anything, really?_

He decided that an apology would be a semi-decent start. Nothing could go particularly wrong, right?

"I'm sorry," he said, quickly pausing afterwards. _Should I... add anything to that?_

The girl let out a bout of nervous laughter before she was pulled into a sudden headlock by one Taiyang Xiao Long. Giyuu paused, not sure what to make of that particular interaction. The girl slightly flailed around as the man gave her a light noogie on the head.

"What did I say about using your semblance in the house?" he scolded, although Giyuu could tell that the man at the very least seemed amused.

"I know, I'm sorry! But it's been _ages_ since I've actually seen a new weapon..." the girl said sheepishly as she was released from the headlock. "Everyone else at signal is still making their own thing, so I err... May have gone just slightly more excited than usual?"

She laughed awkwardly. Giyuu couldn't help but look upon the scene with an amused smile tugging at his lips. _Although it is strange. I don't think I've ever met someone with such a large enthusiasm for weapons out of all things..._

"Where's Yang by the way?" Taiayang asked.

"She's out in Vale right now. She said she'd come back before dinner!" Ruby explained, before turning to Giyuu's direction once more. "Can I see your sword?" she blurted.

"Alright, you two have fun with your weapons. I'm gonna go cook dinner, alright?" Taiyang's voice echoed as he retreated further into the house, leaving the two teenagers by themselves.

Giyuu shrugged. _I... suppose there wouldn't be too much harm in letting her see it,_ he thought. Unhooking his Nichirin Blade from his belt, he handed it over to the enthusiastic girl. With a pull of effort, she unsheathed the blue tinted sword, observing it inch by inch. _She looks awfully focused._

"Is the blue part paint?" the girl suddenly asked. "It has such a cool looking tint to it, but you usually don't paint the blade of a sword, so..."

Giyuu shook his head. "It's made out of something called Nichirin," he explained. "Where I come from, it's known as the only metal in the world that can change color. Unfortunately, it's found only one place in the world."

"Oooh," Ruby nodded rather sagely. "Does it turn into a gun?"

"A gun?" he asked. Guns were considered a relatively new invention in Japan. They were used mostly only in the national military and nowhere else. A sword that could _turn_ into a gun? That was something outside of even his wildest imaginations. Except now apparently where it was seemingly possible.

He shook his head. "It's just a sword."

The girl pouted in disappointment.

Giyuu blinked. _Did I... do something wrong?_

He raised a hand in apology before the girl's eyes suddenly snapped open wide and she started flailing her arms around in panic, sword in hand. Giyuu quickly dodged a swipe from his own sword as the girl immediately stopped and withdrew her hands and put them to her side.

"OhgodI'msosorrythatprobablysoundedsupermeanIdidn'tmeantoreactsoharshlyIswearitsstillprettycoolandohgodIalmoststabbedyouandohgodoh-"

Giyuu blinked again.

The girl stopped.

An awkward silence descended between the two.

After a solid five seconds, Giyuu decided that first and foremost, it would probably be best to avoid being possibly stabbed.

"If it's ok with you, I'd like my sword back please." he said, a slight sheepishness creeping into his voice.

Moments later, his weapon was roughly shoved back into his hands again and the girl yelled a very loud, "I'm sorry!" before she turned into a speeding black and red mass once again and bolted the other way, leaving a trail of red rose petals in her path.

This was followed by Taiyang shouting, "RUBY! SEMBLANCE!" once more.

Giyuu stood still, not sure just what he was now supposed to do.

After pondering for a brief moment, he decided that taking a step forward was probably a good way to go, and continued from there.

* * *

Dinner at the Xiao Long household was awkward, and Giyuu suspected that he was the cause for said awkwardness. Taiyang was as chipper as always, but Ruby would guiltily stare down at the ground for reasons unknown every time he made eye contact with her, and Giyuu himself was someone who preferred not to speak unless prompted.

"Yang," who he assumed was Taiyang's other daughter, was nowhere to be found, and had only called the household telling them that she would be late.

"Soo Giyuu!" Taiyang suddenly announced. "Tell us a little bit about yourself. Qrow really didn't fill me in on the details, ya know?"

Giyuu blinked in curiosity. "What about myself would you like to know?"

"Well erm, where are you from?"

Giyuu stopped to think. How would he phrase his theory that he was quite possibly either from far back in the past, trapped in a demon art, or just a straight up alien? "My home is very far away. Unfortunately I don't believe I can go back to it, at least at the moment."

If he gained the opportunity, he would go back. But he was smart enough to know when and when not to try and obsessively control and plan over something that he had zero idea of. He simply hoped that the remaining Demon Slayers would do well without him. _After all, it's not like we're particularly close to beating Muzan anyway._

When he had decided to be a demon slayer, he had very well known that what he was signing up for was essentially a glorified suicide. Still, he had seen the demons first hand. He had lost a friend and a sister to one. Back then, and possibly even now, it had really been the only path forward for him.

"Oh, so you're from outside of the big continents?" Taiyang asked, his interest showing.

Giyuu nodded. "I'm from far away." he answered, telling a half-truth. After all, it _technically_ wasn't wrong. Just... misleading. He felt bad that he would be fooling around with the truth with his only host and a rather friendly one at that, but it wasn't like he himself knew what had occurred to him anyway.

"How old are you?"

"I recently turned sixteen."

The questions went on from there, with Taiyang asking simple, impersonal questions and Giyuu providing him with answers. Answers regarding tidbits of his past, things like his favorite color, favorite food, and so on. It was... not a bad feeling. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he had talked for so long, although he did have to admit that his host was much more talkative compared to the regular demon slayer.

And also, he wasn't irritating. That probably helped too.

The food was also not bad at all. It was a strange, western looking dish he had never tasted before, but he didn't mind the taste at all. In fact, he had been rather impressed with his host. Ever since Giyuu had devoted an embarrassing number of hours into learning how to cook a single dish of Salmon Daikon, he had garnered a new respect for people who could confidently cook.

At about the end of dinner, Taiyang's device- which he called a scroll- started to ring. Giyuu now knew that when that happened, it meant that someone was calling. (Ah, the wonders of technology)

The blonde man picked it up, and his face lit up in surprise. "Yang? Is that you calling?"

"Yeah so um..." a new voice echoed. "I _maaay_ or may not have gotten myself into a tiny bit of-"

A crashing noise reverbed from the scroll's speakers. Giyuu raised an eyebrow in confusion. _Was that a... crash? Did something explode? Considering how Ruby is, it might just be a normal thing for this girl to create... explosions, I suppose. But should... Should I be concerned about this?_

"Yeah! So as you can see, or HEAR!" she yelled at the end before a sickening _crunch_ sound echoed from the speakers. "I MAY HAVE GOTTEN MYSELF INTO JUST A BIT OF A PINCH RIGHT NOW! JUST TO-" -another crash- "LET YOU KNOW, DAD! I'M GONNA HANG UP NOW! MIGHT BE A LITTLE LAAAATE!"

Before Taiyang could respond, the scroll _beeped_ to signal that the call was over. In response, the man simply sighed, putting a hand over his face. On the other side, Ruby was blushing cherry red, looking down at the ground in what seemed like embarrassment. Giyuu blinked again.

"Is..." he asked hesitantly. "this normal?"

Taiyang sighed. "Not really. She does have a bit of an explosive streak, but..."

"Ah." Giyuu nodded in understanding.

Pocketing the scroll, Taiyang paced around the house briefly, muttering to himself. Immediately afterwards, he put his hands on top of the table and sat down once more, pinching his nose in frustration. "Alright, Ruby. Sorry to dump this onto you right now, but this might as well be a good opportunity. You and Giyuu can go to Vale and pick up Yang. I... think I know where she's gonna be by the time you arrive."

"In prison?" Giyuu suggested before he closed his mouth shut quickly.

Taiyang sighed.

"Yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, we're getting started with this now I guess. Whoo...
> 
> I hope I'm characterizing Giyuu correctly in terms of dialogue or actions and decisions.
> 
> That's really it for now, feel free to leave a review if you enjoyed it or have any criticisms!


	3. An adventure in Vale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giyuu and Ruby search for Yang. Canon slowly begins to shift as I start to completely tear it apart.

Despite having somewhat adjusted to his new surroundings, (Which he now knew as a land named Remnant, a land that had continents that had no similarities whatsoever to that of Earth) things about Remnant seemed to still surprise him. For one, the fact that bullheads could be used as easily as carriages in Tokyo. Although it was one thing for air travel to exist, it was another thing for it to be so... so _common_. So easily used and accessible. Something about how people lived in this world, how technology impacted lifestyle and culture, was extremely baffling at times.

And the people? Even more so.

Giyuu sat in silence as the bullhead flew threw the air, occasionally glancing at his only companion. Since the sun had set long ago, the bullhead was empty save for the two of them, and somehow the silence was even more palpable than ever. Giyuu sighed in his seat. He wasn't sure what exactly he had done to earn Ruby Rose's ire, but it was slowly getting ever so slightly uncomfortable.

_Actually, why is she so skittish? She seemed rather enthusiastic when she was talking about the sword. Is it that she feels guilty for... something? I'm not sure what in the world she would feel bad about, though. Maybe the thing about the almost-stabbing?_

He lightly tapped her shoulder. The girl slightly jumped in surprise before she turned to face him. "Huh?! D- Do you wanna say something? NotthatI _don't_ wantyoutosayanythingofcourse, god that really came out wrong and I'm probably just diggingmyselfadeeperanddeeper-"

"Do you dislike me?" Giyuu phrased the question bluntly.

Ruby's eyes snapped open. "H- Huh? No! You're super cool with your dark and edgy brooding and your sword! It's like you're straight out of a movie!"

Giyuu's eyes twitched.

_I guess that was meant to be a compliment, but... Dark and edgy brooding?_

He sighed. _Oh well, at least she isn't one more person for Shinobu to inevitably use to tease me._ "Why do you look like you're scared of me?" he asked.

"Well, I kinda called your weapon lame? Itwasanaccident I swear! I didn't mean to call your sword boring just because itdoesn'thaveagun like everyotherweapononRemnant, it actually looks pretty cool!" she exclaimed. "I thought you were like, super mad at me or something?"

His eyes twitched again. _I feel like I'm about to face a truth that I don't want to confront..._

Still, he stepped beyond the boundary and asked the question. "Why... did you think I was mad at you?"

"Oh!" Ruby's face lit up this time, and Giyuu fought down a flinch. _It's coming, isn't it..._ "Because you have this super broody look, so I just thought you were angry or something! And I _did_ kind of insult you, almost stab you then run away, so connect the dots, and well... Here we are, I guess!"

"Ah," Giyuu echoed. "That's just... my normal face." he said. "I'm not mad at you or anything. Don't worry."

"Well I guess I already knew that by dinnertime, but all this weird stuff happened and I'm kind of not the best at making friends, so..." Ruby muttered, her voice trailing off towards the end. Giyuu chuckled amusedly. _At least this entire thing is done and over with. I wouldn't want to head to a prison with someone who can't stop looking at the floor..._

"Don't worry," he said. "I don't think people like me either."

"I know, right? I swear, Yang makes it look so easy, but-" the girl stopped, her face scrunching up as she took the time to process what he had _actually_ said. "Did... I just get insulted?"

Giyuu hummed in response.

* * *

It turned out that in fact- Yang _wasn't_ actually in Prison.

After the police officer, a man with _blue hair_ that somehow managed to look natural, returned with the report of whether a 'YANG XIAO LONG' had been to the prison in the last 24 hours, Ruby had quickly taken her phone out and had called Taiyang for assistance. Giyuu hadn't been able to hear the conversation fully since Taiyang didn't, well... _shout_ out all of his answers. Still, he had a basic idea of what the man had said.

"Alright, Operation find Yang is a failure!" Ruby exclaimed. Inside the police office. The police office with many officers who were now staring at her, some of them amused and some of them less so. Ruby immediately flushed in embarrassment before flipping on a bright red hood and exiting the building.

Giyuu bowed in what he hoped indicated an apology before he left as well.

When he caught up to Ruby, the younger girl was pacing back and forth, a dust of pink still plastered onto her face. The girl immediately groaned. "I can't believe I actually did that! I just embarrassed myself in front of the entire police department because I forgot that I was still in the building!"

The water hashira considered raising a finger to point out just how ridiculous that statement sounded before simply deciding against it. _Things like this are probably gonna become commonplace if I'm staying here for any length of time. I should probably just get used to it or something._

"ANYWAY!" Ruby continued, "We still need to find Yang! And dad doesn't even know where she is! All he said was that she'd probably be in some kinda club, and I have no idea where any clubs in Vale are! Also, clubs are kinda scary? At least, that's what Yang told me..."

"Clubs?" Giyuu asked. _Like... the weapon?_

"Yeah!" Ruby exclaimed. "Like clubs! With music, drinks, alcohol, and lots of dancing and fighting! Or at least that's what Yang says they are. I've never actually been to one myself, so I'm not reaaally too sure."

It was truly astonishing how this girl could go from dead set embarrassment to... whatever this was in such a short time. _I suppose some people are just born with lots of energy,_ Giyuu thought, before a small lightbulb turned on inside his head. _Music, alcohol and dancing and fighting? Then a club is probably something like a bar, and I don't think that would be too hard to find._

"Has your sister never told you about what places she liked to visit?" he asked. Ruby shook her head.

"Nope! She thought that I would try and sneak into a club if she told me location of one," the girl pouted. _Ah, so she's that kind of sister..._

"Have you tried just... calling her?" he suggested. Ruby shook her head again.

"She doesn't pick up. I think her battery's dead. I don't think she's in too much danger or anything. I mean, she's _Yang_. She's even _more_ dangerous than half of Vale's criminals!"

"Mm."

Giyuu scrunched his face in thought. _What am I doing? I know absolutely nothing about this place beyond the fact that the buildings look impressive. I'm completely unequipped to deal with this situation. Still, there must be some way for us to find her, right?_

"Oh!" Ruby suddenly yelled. "Now that I think about it, she did mention a few times about a place called Junior's. But I don't really have any idea where that is!"

"Why not ask?" Giyuu offered. Ruby nodded eagerly before the girl suddenly disappeared into god knows where, leaving a new trail of rose petals behind. _I'm... fairly sure that people wouldn't appreciate it if you asked around by speeding into them, but I guess I can't really say anything in that regard either._

_Maybe I should start asking around as well._

Turning to the side but staying in a relatively small area so that Ruby could find him again later, (considering he frankly didn't want to get lost in a city like this) Giyuu tapped the shoulder of a stranger. It was a wide, tall man with a top hat and a ponytail, who looked... well, if he was going to put it honestly, rather unsightly.

He supposed that the man looked like the average person who would frequently visit bars- or clubs, whatever you called them. _I hope he doesn't accidentally get insulted when I ask him, though._

"Would you happen to know a club called Junior's?" Giyuu asked. The man scrunched up his face in thought for a brief moment before looking him in the eyes again.

"I think I've been there once or twice," he said. "But what kinda business does a kid like you have around that place? You look way too young to be drinking. Go back to school or something and piss off. Junior's ain't a place for stupid pretty boys like you."

Before Giyuu could respond, Ruby suddenly dashed back to him, her face in glee. "Giyuu! I found the location! Apparently it's somewhere around-"

"Oi! Kid, don't you even _dare_ bring a fuckin' middle schooler into that place. Junior doesn't serve stupid kids like you two, and both of you are frankly idiots if-"

Giyuu then decided to take a more pragmatic approach to get rid of the man who was now getting slightly irritating. Putting a hand to his sword, he prepared to draw it. Not to kill the man of course, but a show of strength went a long way to work on lower level demons. He assumed that showing the man that he wasn't just some... _pretty boy_ , would help convince him to, well... leave.

_Now that I think about it, that might not be the best idea. This is a human, not a demon. I shouldn't just solve every problem by pointing a sword at it._

But before he could think of another option, something crashed onto the ground beside him, making a rather obviously loud noise. Giyuu immediately turned to look at just what it was, only to see his current companion. His current companion who happened to be... holding...

_Oh god who gave this girl a giant scythe?_

"We can handle ourselves! See? He has his awesome sword and I have Crescent Rose! I'm not some helpless middle schooler, mister!" Ruby exclaimed, holding the scythe proudly. _Where did she even pull that thing from? It wasn't anywhere on her and I don't think anyone could even hide that thing, much less someone as short as her..._

"Ruby," Giyuu started. "Please put down the giant scythe."

_Actually now that I think about it, wouldn't that just-_

"Alright!" Ruby exclaimed as she seemingly activated a switch and the scythe shrunk into a much smaller red contraption that she proceeded to hook back onto her belt. _Ah, so the weapon shrinks. Of course it does. Because why wouldn't the giant scythe just shrink to a fraction of it's size?_

Giyuu sighed. He supposed he owned the man some form of an apology now.

"Sorry," he began. "My companion here is... slightly hyperactive. Thank you for the information."

The man quickly scrambled away, not saying a word. Giyuu sighed, the beginnings of a headache beginning to boil in his head. _This is frankly beginning to become way more trouble than it's worth. Why am I even here again? I should just try and wake up from this dream, or something. Go and kill some more demons._

But unfortunately, this was all too real and he had no way of getting back home. At least, to his current knowledge.

"Uhhhhh," Ruby's voice called out rather meekly. _Huh? Is she somehow back to... whatever her state was before the bullhead?_ "I proobably went to far just now, didn't I? That guy seemed... pretty angry?"

"Ah," Giyuu echoed. _I would think terrified would be a better fit than angry._ "You're fine. Just try to avoid taking out the giant scythe in public next time." he said. And strangely enough, he meant it. He was learning rather quickly now that it was astonishingly hard to keep any sort of real grudge against the girl, despite how she was... certainly a personality. He was certainly not the happiest camper at the moment, but that was less directed at her and more at the situation itself.

The hooded girl brightened once more. "Alright then!" Ruby said before she pointed towards his right. "Now, let's go find Yang! No more distractions!"

* * *

Yang Xiao Long was currently not in the best of moods.

Going against some weak, petty criminals in a club was supposed to be easy. As much as she didn't like bragging _too_ badly about it, she was in fact someone who was the best ranked in her class in Signal, and by a decent margin as well. She wasn't a professional huntsman sure, but she wasn't supposed to be captured in a damn nightclub out of all things.

Which was why this stupid umbrella girl popping out of absolutely nowhere was annoying. Very annoying. She knew that eventually she'd meet her match in combat, but she hadn't ever expected some random criminal to completely dominate her in a fight the way that Ice Cream girl had.

Every punch that Yang pulled off, the girl dodged effortlessly. Every move that Yang made, the girl predicted ages ahead of time. Ice Cream girl was in total control of the flow of the fight, and for the love of all things pure Yang just couldn't get a damn _hit_ on her.

Plus, that umbrella was sharp. And painful. It made her seriously pissed off.

And she had activated her semblance too! Usually when she was pushed to that point, it indicated that she would take the win easily. But nope! Umbrella girl was still dodging all of her hits by the tiniest margin, and it gave Yang a migraine by the end of the fight.

So now here she was, tied up onto a chair. In _Junior's_ club. Fucking Junior's.

"Hey!" she called out. "Umbrella girl!"

Umbrella girl turned towards her and cocked her head, her eyebrows raising ever so slightly in mocking. Yang fumed, struggling against the ropes one more time. "Why the fuck won't you just talk?! Open your stupid mouth so we can have a freaking conversation!"

Umbrella girl put a hand to her mouth and snickered. Or at least that was what it looked like, considering no sound actually came out of her mouth. _Seriously, what the hell is this girl? Some kind of mime? I swear to god, when I get out of these ropes, I'm gonna-_

Before Yang could finish her line of thought, Umbrella girl suddenly disappeared from where she was before and reappeared right in front of Yang, her face leaning in _way_ too close for comfort with an expression that was both flirtatious and mocking at the same time. Yang felt the extremely strong urge to punch her in the face.

She was so close. It was so easy. All she needed to do was get off the stupid ropes around her arms, activate Ember Cecilia and absolutely fucking _drill_ her fist into the girl's face.

Since when did Junior have a henchman like that anyway? All she had come here for was some info on her mom. She hadn't actually _meant_ to beat up most of the club and cause major property damage! Why was umbrella girl even here? Why was she fighting for Junior? He was a criminal!

She sighed in frustration, slumping against the chair. _I might have really screwed up with this, huh?_

"Man," Junior gushed, "Thank god my favorite customer was here while you were about to trash this damn place, huh? How does it feel, blondie? To be on the opposite end of the fight this time? You don't get to keep coming in here, beating up our henchmen, causing tons of property damage while asking for _my_ damn assistance!"

Yang sputtered out in incredulity. "Since when did you have a moral high horse?! You're a criminal! You extort people for money! Don't come all gung-ho on me for beating your goons up!" she yelled, before tuning her voice with the most potent sarcasm possible. "Oh no! Just what will I do? I sabotaged someone part of the criminal underground! What a horrible person I am!"

Junior growled, before suddenly chortling. "Yeah, you know what? You're right! But you know what else you are? Tied up in a chair, completely at loss! Man, Neo really is a lifesaver, huh? Try not to mess with places that people like going to, blondie." he said. "Now, for all the _shit_ you've caused me, I think I know some seriously painful ways that you can pay me back!"

"Screw you!" Yang yelled. I'm gonna get out of these stupid ropes, and you're gonna get pummeled all the way to fucking Mistral!"

Before Junior could retort back, a sudden crashing noise echoed from outside the club. Everyone inside the club briefly took a moment to completely stop what they were doing just then and there. Yang raised an eyebrow in curiosity, and she- to her great glee- could see Junior slightly tense up.

"I swear to gods," he whispered. "If someone else comes in here trying to trash my damn clu-"

The door to the club exploded. Well, not _exploded_ per say, but it certainly looked that way to her. The hinges of the metal door came flying off, the frame of the gate slowly falling down to the floor. Outside said door was a man- no, a _boy_ that Yang had never seen before in her life.

Straight black hair, some of the sharpest eyes Yang had ever seen, an asymmetrical jacket-thing, and what looked like a one edged sword sheathed to his side. Yang quickly noted down the stranger's details in her head. _Is he some sort of huntsman? I don't think I've ever seen or heard of him before... Wait no, he looks younger than me! He can't be a huntsman!_

And right behind him, a new figure emerged. A figure that Yang frankly _hadn't_ expected to see. _Hoped_ not to see.

"...Ruby?" she whimpered out.

"Yang?" her younger sister asked, her voice painfully innocent. "Why are you tied to a chair?"

* * *

Despite the fact that Ruby had received an address, finding Junior's club was, well... hard. Giyuu was a complete stranger to Vale, but he had gone to the capital of Japan at least a few times in his life, and since he had always been hunting demons, he had gone into the underground part of the city multiple times as well.

Not physically underground of course, but the _underground._ The part of the city that was infested with crime and filth. The part of the city that hosted thieves, burglars, extortionists and killers. And naturally, the part of the city that was always an absolute nightmare to navigate.

Vale's underground was the same way. Narrow, twisting and turning streets made it harder and harder to not get lost in the maze that was the underground. And finding a specific address in a place where there was practically zero organization in the way places were numbered or named? It was damn near impossible. Ruby had gotten misdirected at least half a dozen times so far, and he expected her to get lost at least a dozen more times before they found the club.

There were also the obvious criminals. It was about the same with Vale as it was with Japan, with shady looking merchants, people carrying a varied number of weapons, and the worst part of all, thin children dressed in rags, running around with bags in their hands.

It was frustrating. Rage inducing. The fact that even with seemingly hundreds of years worth of technological advancements compared to Japan, things like that were still persistent. Sure, there was a lot _less_ of it compared to what he had expected, but it still existed.

A detail that was strange though, was the fact that a big portion of the people there wore a single, widespread garb. A black jumpsuit covered with a silver set of armor, coupled along with a mask that resembled the monsters that Giyuu had encountered when he had first landed in Remnant.

And the rest of the people, most of them at least, had at least one distinct animal trait. Whether it was cat or dog or monkey, it was rather undeniable that a big portion of the underworld of Vale were people with anthropomorphic traits. Giyuu had never seen someone with cat ears in his life before, and frankly he hadn't expected to see any in his lifetime. But just as always, Remnant surprised him again. Though this time, he wasn't sure whether it was a good or a bad thing. He was leaning more towards the latter.

He wondered if animal traits were considered some kind of disability in Remnant. Similar to how ugly children were considered less by a village in Japan.

He noted said things inside his mind as he walked along, taking in the part of Vale that hit much closer to home, and in a bad way. A very bad way. In a way, he could still tell that the underground of Vale was still at least _part_ of Vale. There were things like color choices and voices and accents that made that clear. Still, it was also clear that it was _not_ the same as the majority of the city.

He felt a light tapping at his arm as he walked along the street, turning to his right to see Ruby looking at a brightly lit store with a neon pink signpost depicting an apple. _A food store? Does she seriously want to buy food here? Isn't there a better time and place for something like that?_

"I have some money to spare." said the girl with a strange confidence in her voice that confused him. "Follow me, Giyuu!... or not. I don't really wanna go in there alone but if-"

Giyuu nodded before shrugging, trying his best not to be judgmental. _I guess it's part of being her age. I would say that this isn't the time and place to get something to eat or drink, but well..._

The girl visibly brightened up. "Thanks!" she said before walking towards the store, Giyuu trailing behind her and watching out for possible dangers. They hadn't encountered any explicitly threatening situations so far, but it never hurt to be careful, especially in a place that frankly- he had no idea of just how dangerous it was.

A few minutes later, Ruby had checked out with a bag filled with apples, oranges and an assortment of other fruits, thanking the accountant as she left. Giyuu trailed along, not quite sure what he was witnessing. _That's... way too much food for any one person to eat. What in the world is she doing? Did Taiyang ask her to buy groceries or something? I suppose that would make sense. But oh well, at least she seems more... chipper now?_

Giyuu noted that while Ruby hadn't actually eaten anything, she did seem more... energized, in a way. She had looked clearly uncomfortable throughout the walk, and while she still had an aura of discomfort, it felt less heavy. The girl was less skittish, and had more of the confidence that she had shown when she had cracked the pavement with a giant scythe.

She was also faster. A detail he was only noticing now.

As Ruby turned a corner and disappeared, Giyuu's eyes widened and he quickened his pace to catch up. While the girl was only maybe a dozen meters in front of him, it was enough to scream against his instincts as a demon slayer. Anytime was a possible danger. Anywhere beyond his sight was a possible threat that was ready to take a life.

Laying a hand on his sword and cautiously narrowing his eyes, Giyuu turned around the same corner Ruby had, sighing in relief as he found the girl in his line of sight again.

Said girl was also holding out an apple to a child they had passed moments ago.

Giyuu paused, albeit for only a brief moment. _Oh_ , he noted. _So that's what she was buying food for._

Feeling a strange emotion in his stomach that was an odd mixture of frustration and wonder, he resumed his walking as he made his way towards the girl and the child. _Gee, I never even thought that she was actually buying food for others. Damn it, don't tell me Shinobu was actually right when she called me a cynical old geezer..._

As the child scrambled away, Ruby turned towards him again before her eyes widened. "Oh!" she exclaimed, before rubbing the backside of her head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, ehehe... I know that we should probably find Yang quickly, but it's hard to just look at them and do nothing, you know?"

 _There are lots of people who would disagree with you on that,_ Giyuu immediately thought before sighing. _Right. Not Japan. Different land, different people... probably. Considering that a place like this even exists, it might just be that she's an exception. Still..._

"You're fine." he ended up saying for the second time that day. "You're doing a good thing."

"I also accidentally spent all of our allowance, though..." Ruby noted absentmindedly. "Dad told me to buy you some new clothes! He said that you looked ancient or something."

Giyuu found himself holding his haori, not sure whether he was supposed to feel offended or not. _Ancient? That's... one way to put it, I guess._

Ruby giggled. "I think it looks pretty cool, though! You're like a character from one of those martial arts movies that Yang loves!"

Giyuu simply nodded his head, not quite understanding. "We should probably look for your sister now." he said. Ruby's eyes widened again.

"Oh, right! We should probably start on that again, yeah." she agreed, before suddenly looking upwards and gasping. "Wait, doesn't that sign say Junior's?"

Giyuu looked upwards and nodded. Indeed, the sign _did_ say _Junior's_. The building was one of the less run down ones that were part of the underground, and it was surrounded by two burly looking men in dark grey tuxedo suits, both of them holding up thick metal sticks. _Do bars usually have guards?_

"Well, I guess we found the place on accident?" Ruby noted before she took her bag of fruits and put it in the black and red backpack she had brought before she started to walk towards the building, Giyuu quickly following behind her, carefully laying a hand on the handle of his sword. _Just in case the guards end up becoming hostile against us. The man in Vale did imply that Junior's was fairly dangerous, and the location is in the underground part of Vale as well._

"Hey!" Ruby began. "Have you seen a tall blonde girl here? She's my sister and we're looking for her."

Giyuu wondered what would happen if the two of them said no. _Now that I think about it, we're only here because Ruby remembered this as the only club Yang told her about. What if Yang isn't here? Would we have to start a search all over again? Would we even be able to find her before the day is over?_

They had come here because it was the only lead they had, but could it have been simply a wild goose chase?

The man grumbled, snapping Giyuu out of his thoughts. Immediately sensing the hostility radiating from him, the water hashira felt like slapping his forehead. _Damn it. This is gonna turn bad, isn't it? I can tell already. Hopefully these guards are all muscle and no brain, or else it'll be hard to fight them without using some of my more lethal forms..._

He waited for the right moment. For a brief few seconds, the two guards whispered to one another, and Giyuu had frankly no idea what the two were talking about. However immediately afterwards, one of the guards raised their metal sticks up in the air in a position that clearly indicated he was about to hit something.

Giyuu sprang to action immediately. Pushing himself off of the ground, he closed the distance between him and the guard with a single, powerful stride, his sword raised upwards and a sea blue particles of water spiraling around the blue tinted blade, poised to strike.

_Eighth form, waterfall basin!_

Swinging the blade with just the right amount of strength to make his strike a blunt impact instead of a bisecting slice, he crashed the explosion of water onto the first guard's head, aiming straight for a place on the back of the head that he had knew would cause a concussion.

The man crumbled to the ground, instantly unconscious. Quickly moving onto the next guard, Giyuu spun around and gathered momentum before he crashed a second waterfall basin into the guard, this time into the guard's chest. The man went flying backwards as he crashed into the wall behind him, knocked out as well.

He then sheathed his sword, sighing in relief. Frankly, controlling his swings to hit bluntly was not something he was used to considering his style of combat was meant to be good at _beheading_ demonic creatures with skin as hard as steel. It had taken him a fair bit of effort to make sure that he wasn't causing fatal injuries. He didn't want to kill human beings, after all. _Now what to do for that door? It looks metal, and I think I can slice through it if I try, but I have no idea how thick it is..._

But before he could properly think on what to do next, a familiar voice interrupted his stream of thought.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Ruby cried out as she sped towards him. "You went all _fwoosh,_ and _bang_ and _boom_!" she said as she imitated what he guessed were martial arts movements. He sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He had gotten... some varied reactions to his techniques throughout the years, but most of them had been varied degrees of gratitude or relief over being rescued from a bloodthirsty demon.

Not... whatever this was.

"Anyway," Ruby said, quickly dashing to the side once more. "I can get us through that door! Since you handled the guards, it's time for me to show you just what me and my baby can do!"

_Her what?_

Pulling out the contraption he now knew was her giant scythe, Ruby pulled on one of the pieces that made up the piece of machinery. _Is she turning it into a scythe again? But what would a scythe do to a door? It's not really the best at making blunt impacts either..._

And then, the contraption expanded turned into something that wasn't a scythe at all. It had the same color scheme and design, but it was a completely different contraption. _What is that? Wait, it has a trigger, a handle, and a... Is that a gun? A giant scythe and a gun?_

He distinctly remembered the girl pouting in disappointment when he had revealed that his sword was nothing but, well... a sword. _I guess at least I know what she means now. But would a gun really get through that door? If anything, it would be even more harmless, right?_

And then, a loud sound echoed across the alleyway as the girl shot a streak of green into the door. It seemed... completely fine. _Although the air is certainly thicker. Is that some sort of smoke bullet? A smoke... something? I suppose that wouldn't be too unrealistic considering what I've seen so far. Still, it's certainly not very useful against the door._

Immediately afterwards, Ruby shot something else. This time, a red streak flew straight towards the door, embedding itself through the green bullet.

And the door _exploded_. Not enough that it was completely shattered, but its edges were frayed and burnt down, and it seemed to wobble in place. _What? How?_ Giyuu looked towards Ruby, his eyes slightly widened from the sight. The girl smiled confidently, radiating the same energy she had shown when she had first pulled out the scythe.

"Air dust and fire dust!" she said. "I heard from my science teacher that fire explodes when you combine it with oxygen. So if you put them together? They go kaboom!"

 _Ah,_ Giyuu noted. He hadn't had the time to read the book on dust that Taiyang had given him yet, but at the very least he had a gist of what it did. _So just two bullets and someone could create an explosion? Actually, just join two specks of dust together and you could make a miniature one. That's... dangerous, but impressive._

"Now, try pushing down the door! It'll probably swing right down!" Ruby said, before adding more meekly, "I'm gonna stay back a bit since you look scarier than me."

Giyuu couldn't help but snort at that particular comment.

Still, he led the way in front as the duo approached the door leading to Junior's club. Laying a single hand on it, he pushed forward, immediately drawing it back as the door fell forward, completely detached from its hinges. As the gate fell, the doorway revealed a messed up, broken down club that housed many unconscious bodies dressed similarly to the guards at the front, along with a fancily dressed bearded man and a girl with... pink and brown hair split right down the middle.

And in the furthest edge of the room, was a girl with striking purple eyes and long, golden hair and a fashion style that practically cemented that she was Taiyang's daughter. Ruby quickly revealed herself from behind him, walking towards the entrance of the club. The blonde girl's eyes widened.

"...Ruby?" asked Yang Xiao Long.

"Yang?" Ruby immediately replied. "Why are you tied to a chair?"

Giyuu sighed before putting a hand on his sword once more.

This was gonna get messy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya there! Welcome back to this thing, for the third chapter.
> 
> One thing I do want to address right here and now is updates. It's going pretty fast at the moment, but updates are more of a "I update when I want/can" thing. It might be faster or slower in the future depending on the situation.
> 
> Other than that, nothing much to say for now. I hope you folks have a good day, and I would be super glad as always if you could leave a comment or review!


	4. Panic! At the nightclub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giyuu and Ruby raid a nightclub. Shenanigans ensue.

At the current moment, Junior Xiong's bar was in total and utter chaos. Property damage was getting steadily... no, a better word would be exponentially higher, henchmen were getting beaten up pathetically easily, and a blonde girl was slowly starting to get on Neo's nerves.

It was a shame too, she rather liked this place, and blondie was kinda pretty. Helluva temper though, certainly not Neo's type. She preferred someone suave, and gentlemanly and with strong charisma. The more she looked at blondie, the only thing really strong about her was her fists. And from what she could see of the henchmen, god _damn_ she was strong. At least for her age.

She took one more sip of the cocktail she had ordered, taking in the sweet, fruity scents of the alcoholic beverage. _Mm_. This was why she liked Junior's. His service was about as good as horse shit, and frankly the place was almost always obnoxiously noisy with the worst songs playing on the jukebox, but holy moly could the man make a drink.

If she had a voice, she would have moaned right there and then. Instead, she settled for a simple pleased smile. Committing various crimes across Vale with Roman was one thing, and she _liked_ it, but even then a lady like her needed some well deserved free time. And Junior's was perfect for that.

If the man wasn't too busy scamming out idiots out of their money and dodging taxes, Neo was confident he would have made it by now as a professional bartender. She was thankful that he didn't, though. Because she could actually visit him, and more importantly- drink the heavenly drinks he made, without being cautious of law enforcement.

It turned out that Valean police officers went to bars and clubs quite a lot after all. Neo smiled at the prospect that _she_ and Roman were most likely responsible for at least half of the recent headaches that the police office went through. It was a source of great pride for her.

Something flew her way. Neo slid to the side and let the henchman crash into the bar, lamenting the bottles that were destroyed by the collision.

Oh well. Junior could buy new ones anyway. That man was filthy rich and frankly deserved to lose some money. It was unfair! She and Roman had to risk their lives to conduct perfect heists, building up skills and talents to fight for the money they stole- ahem, _earned_. All Junior had to do was just go up to some stupid idiot and talk his way into that sweet, sweet moolah.

Ah, the injustices of the world.

Speaking of Junior losing his money, it looked like blondie was pretty much destroying a good tiny fraction of his net worth. Nothing that Junior couldn't recover from, of course. But still Neo was sure that the man was lamenting the loss of both his henchmen and bar.

She briefly considered whether she should try and stop the girl. As much as it was entertaining to see Junior panicking, it was also getting awfully noisy. That was annoying. Neo didn't like it.

"Neo!" Junior yelled from a distance. "Fucking do something about her! This is the third time! The third. FUCKING. TIME she's done this! You like my bar, right? You like hanging out here!"

Neo cocked her head at him. The message was clear. She was a criminal herself, after all. She wasn't one to do things for free, she needed at least some form of compensation. Junior's eyes snapped wide open in recognition, but before he could speak, a chair flew towards his face. The man rolled away, the piece of furniture impacting a shelf instead.

"I'LL GIVE YOU DISCOUNTS!" the man yelled, getting increasingly desperate. "HALF PRICE! NO, FULL PRICE! YOU CAN JUST COME HERE FOR FREE WHENEVER YOU WANT! JUST GET RID OF HER!"

Ah, that was better. And it was an even better deal than she had expected! She had thought that the man would give her a wad of cash or something, but nope! Full price discounts? She would make sure to get her fair share out of _that_ particular deal. _Don't worry Junior, I'll be coming here so often that you're gonna end up losing your net worth._

Now, she had a certain blonde girl that she needed to deal with. _Hm, blondie's strong. Punches pretty hard too. Eh, I can probably handle her._

Stretching her limbs and cracking her joints, Neo stood up and took out her umbrella, a sharp bladed tip emerging from the end of the tool-turned-weapon. She smirked.

Blondie didn't stand a chance.

* * *

**Later**

* * *

"Yang?" Ruby asked. "Why are you tied to a chair?"

Giyuu's hand travelled towards his sword as the fancily dressed man looked at him with a raging fire in his eyes and the strange haired woman stood up, brandishing... an umbrella? _Is that supposed to look threatening? Although I suppose it could be a tactical ruse of sorts. She could be extremely deadly, for all I know. It's better not to let my guard down._

"Ruby!" yelled Yang Xiao Long. "Get out of here! What were you even thinking trying to come here!?"

"You're the one that came here in the first place!" Ruby argued back. "And you're tied to a chair! So clearly someone here isn't thinking too well!... Which is you! If- If that wasn't clear enough! You're the one that isn't thinking well, Yang! Right, Giyuu?"

Giyuu felt the urge to slap his forehead. And maybe jump off a cliff afterwards. Similarly, the fancily dressed man groaned, while umbrella girl looked nothing but amused. _I was wrong. She doesn't have any sense of time and place after all. Seriously, why are they having an argument here out of all places?_

And then, the fancily dressed man exploded.

"Oh for fucks sake!" yelled the man, who he presumed was Junior himself. "I have had ENOUGH of my fucking BAR getting TRASHED by stupid TEENAGERS! First blondie, and now you're about to take out that sword! If you're gonna have a fight, follow the GOD DAMN LAW and take it OUTSIDE of my private property!"

Xiao Long cackled. "Oh, now you wanna follow the law? What were you saying just a moment ago~ something about _painful ways_ I could pay you back? How 'bout you list some of those methods, buddy? Tell us all about how you wanna torture a poor 17 year old girl!"

"Shut the hell up blondie!"

And then Xiao Long had the audacity to stick out her tongue at him before smirking. "What? You gonna do something to me if I don't?"

Giyuu honest to god wasn't sure whether he was incredibly impressed or incredibly annoyed with the girl. On one hand, she was taking her rather... precarious situation with an admirable amount of... courage? At the very least, the girl wasn't afraid. On the other hand, the girl also made him want to scream and jump off a cliff. There was a time and place for jokes and quips. This... was about as far as one could get from said time and place.

"Yang! Can you find some way to get out of there?" Ruby asked before pulling out her own weapon, putting a hand on the mechanism that Giyuu assumed would turn it into its scythe form. _Thank god. At least she's somewhat aware that this is... well, most likely gonna lead to a fight. Or maybe I'm the one who's overreacting?_

"No!" yelled Xiao Long. "I've been trying to get out of these stupid ropes for ages!"

Giyuu's grip on his sword tightened.

"Alright, you know what? I'm starting to get tired of this back and forth." Junior said. "Neo! I'll give both you _and_ Roman free drink privileges if you make sure that these kids never mess with this bar again! I don't care what you do! Just make sure they never show their stupid faces again!"

The effect was immediate. Not waiting a split second, Giyuu drew his sword and the strange haired girl- Neo, raised her umbrella and charged, poised to strike. Giyuu immediately noticed that she was _fast_. Faster than... well, most, if not all opponents he had faced before.

"Ruby!" he yelled. "Free Yang with your scythe!"

"On it!" the girl affirmed as she sped towards Yang's direction, past Neo. Immediately, the umbrella wielding girl's attention was redirected from him to Ruby. _No, I have to focus her attention onto me. Junior doesn't look like much of a fighter, but this girl... I couldn't tell at first, but it's obvious that she's dangerous behind that innocent looking facade._

As much as he was sure Ruby could handle herself in combat considering what little she had shown previously, she was a 15 year old girl who- at least to his knowledge- didn't have the same caliber and degree of life and death fighting experience that he did.

The odds of her winning against umbrella girl were not odds he was willing to risk. Frankly, he wasn't sure if _he_ could win against her.

But he didn't _need_ to win. All he needed to do was keep her attention for long enough for Ruby to get past Junior- who didn't seem like the most capable fighter- and free Yang. Then they would be able to gain an advantage in numbers. _The umbrella girl... she wouldn't be strong enough to resist a 3 person assault, right? Would she have that level of skill?_

Either way, this was looking like their best way forward for now.

_Water breathing, ninth form! Splashing water flow!_

His movement becoming splashes of water, he allowed the technique to increase his momentum as he ran straight towards Neo just as the girl poised her weapon to strike. _Ah, so the umbrella is her weapon. A hidden sharp edge, maybe? I should probably stay on the defensive._

Closing the distance between him and her quickly, Giyuu raised his sword, starting off with a move he enjoyed using often as a first form of offense. Not only was it a useful move against demons, it was also effective against humans- at least those not familiar with the water breathing techniques.

_Fourth form, improvised! Striking tide, turbulent!_

Twisting his body to build momentum, Giyuu unleashed a series of consecutive slashes that would theoretically slash off multiple limbs if not blocked. Still, Neo quickly turned around and reacted to the attack, her umbrella turning into a blur as it took in the impact of the consecutive slices. Giyuu lamented none of his attacks connecting.

Still, he had managed to surprise her and push her back, and if her expression was anything to go upon, the girl was at the very least genuinely surprised. _I need to take up this advantage as much as I can_ , Giyuu thought. He had a feeling that if he didn't push his first advantage and keep the element of surprise, things would turn around for the worst later on.

From the corner of his eye, he noted Ruby wielding her scythe against Junior, who was fighting with... a briefcase?

Neo's umbrella swung down at him faster than he could blink. _She's fast! How did she recover so quickly?_ he thought as he jumped out of the way, the weapon harmlessly swinging through open air. Immediately afterwards, he pushed forward off of the ground and swung his sword horizontally, the girl blocking his strike with her umbrella.

For a while, the attack-defend pattern continued. Giyuu struck and Neo dodged or blocked. Neo struck and Giyuu did the same. Neither of them could get a hit on one another... at least so far. Giyuu hadn't made use of all of his forms, and he didn't intend to. Not yet. First, he needed to have an idea of the girl's abilities.

Which was why it was extremely frustrating that the girl just wouldn't _relent._ The girl wasn't going full on out. She had a hidden card, an ace up her sleeve. He could see that just by her confidence in how she fought. Even when he _almost_ got a hit on her, the girl's expression had the same suave smile.

The battle was as physical as it was psychological. He was waiting for the girl to reveal her cards, and it was obvious that the girl was waiting for him to reveal his. Unfortunately, it seemed like he was slowly being beaten back. He was able to keep up the back and forth so far, but he wasn't sure up till _how_ long. He was slowly tiring, hard to notice as it was.

Meanwhile, the girl was barely even sweating.

Then, Neo charged again, this time stabbing her umbrella forward with blinding speed. _I can't react in time for that_ , Giyuu immediately noted. _Now, do I let myself get stabbed in the shoulder? Or do I play my cards before this girl does?_ There was one form of water breathing that was a perfect counter to the girl's stab. And yet...

_Oh well... It's not like my goal was to win against her on my own anyway._

He pulled back his sword, preparing the fastest technique available to him.

_Water breathing, seventh form! Piercing rain drop!_

And he drove his sword _forward_ , straight into the trajectory of the razor sharp tip of the umbrella. The two blades met in mid air, a shield of watery ripples protecting him from the pierce and negating the girl's momentum. Once again, Neo's face lit up in brief surprise.

_That's my opportunity!_

Twisting his body once more, he slashed diagonally, his blade clearly contacting the girl's torso and slashing through... _What?_

The girl was completely fine. The girl. Was. Completely fine. There was no wound, no blood, not even a _tear_ on her shirt. There was only a pink flash of light that had briefly appeared where his sword had touched her, the light disappearing almost instantly. _What in the world? Is this what she's been holding back? Does she have some form of invulnerability?_

The girl smirked.

That was when he realized that in his surprise, he had hesitated.

Before he could blink, the girl slashed at him with her umbrella with speeds she had never shown before. Giyuu's eyes widened as he desperately blocked the deadly flurry that approached his way, sparks ringing through the air as his nichirin sword clashed with the umbrella's sharp tip.

_What in the world?_

The umbrella struck his sword once more and he slid back from the impact. _She hits hard too! Much harder than I expected!_

He glanced at Ruby, who was still engaged in conflict with Junior, albeit one that was going in her favor from what he could see. Meanwhile, he could tell now. The girl had been holding back her cards massively. At the moment he was completely and utterly outclassed.

_Still, I have some tricks left in my sleeve. If I try this, my best chance at winning is gonna be exposed... Is it worth it? No, of course it is. I can't stand a chance without using the tenth form. Right now, my goal isn't to win but to delay her as much as possible to give Yang the chance to join in._

Gripping his sword tightly, he shifted his breathing once more.

_Water breathing, tenth form! Constant flux!_

Pushing off of the ground, he jumped forward at speeds faster than he had ever gone previously. Around his sword, a river-like stream of water gathered to create a dragon shaped construct that followed the path of his blade. _I can only maintain this form for a few minutes with my current stamina... Ruby better free her sister quickly._

He swung his sword horizontally, and the girl raised her umbrella to block. With the added momentum and strength of form ten, Giyuu knocked the defense aside and struck the girl's chest once more, the pink flash of light re-appearing to protect her. Before Neo could recover, he slashed again, only for the girl to twist her body and dodge the slash.

Before he knew it, an umbrella's sharp blade flew towards him. He let it hit his arm as he twisted sideways, the sharp edge of the tip making a light wound. Once again, the girl looked surprised. _Another chance._

Twisting around once more, he built up momentum and swung his sword towards the girl's neck, only for it to be blocked with a much more solid defense this time around. Once more, he fell into the same loop of attack and defend, except this time he was actually getting in _hits_ and so was she.

And while he was tiring faster, the girl was also tiring this time as well. Sweat beaded at the tips of her hair and her movements were much less playful and much more deadly. The umbrella aimed for his joints. His neck, his knees and his elbows. They were strikes that were meant to incapacitate and kill.

_She doesn't know that I can't hold this for long! Right now at least mentally, I hold the advantage!_

Then suddenly, a crash echoed across the room. Giyuu noticed the collapsed form of Junior in the corner of his eye and immediately jumped backwards, stopping _constant_ _flux_. From the back of the room was now a standing golden haired girl who looked positively _pissed_.

But now, he wasn't quite sure if Ruby and Yang were capable of beating the girl. He was only able to keep up with her- and even then he hadn't been actually _winning_ , the stalemate had been closer to Neo's favor- for a few minutes while using constant flux. And from what he was able to tell, Yang had been beaten fairly easily by the umbrella wielding girl.

As of now, he suspected he would only be able to keep up constant flux for less than a minute. The more he thought about it, the odds were... less than stellar. _Could her shield be a limited thing? In that case, how much of it did I take out already? Maybe if they could get enough hits on her..._

"Alright, fucking ice cream bitch! Get ready to get pummeled!" Yang yelled, immediately charging into the fight.

In response however, Neo didn't fight back at all. Instead, the girl merely made a soundless gesture that indicated giggling before snapping her fingers and simply disappearing into the air. Giyuu's eyes widened once more as his eyes darted around, the umbrella wielding girl nowhere to be found.

Yang's punch contacted with nothing but mid air. For a brief moment, the girl paused and looked around, before her face twisted into an expression of intense anger. "What?" she yelled. "Oi! Fucking get back! Seriously? That's it? She's just gone with a stupid poof?"

The blonde girl's pupils briefly turned red before she slumped down onto the ground. "God, I was so looking forward to punching her face as well..." she trailed off. "And you, Ruby! What were you even thinking? You could have seriously gotten killed today!"

"So could have you!" Ruby argued back.

Yang opened her mouth, seemingly to retort, before she closed it back again. "You know what?" she said. "You're right. Boy, I really screwed up, didn't I?" She put her hands to her face, groaning out loud. "Gods, I didn't expect that ice cream girl to be here. Sorry, Ruby, that I lashed out like that. Just... that girl, she was crazy strong. I couldn't even get a single freaking hit on her before she tied me to a damn chair!"

Ruby nodded. "I know Yang, but we're all fine now, and that's what's important."

The girl slumped. "It turned out ok in the end, but what if she'd gotten you, you know? You could have seriously... Ugh, crap. You know what? You're right, I'm being an idiot. I'm just glad both of us are safe." she said, before trapping the younger girl in a one armed hug and giving her a noogie, all the while smiling coyishly. "Don't worry your older sis like that again, alright?" she playfully added.

"Yang!" Ruby complained, hitting the older girl's arms in protest. "Your muscles are way too strong!"

Yang immediately let the girl go, her expression morphing into one that looked rather sheepish compared to the boyish grin from before. "Oops! Sorry about that, Rubes. Old habits, ya know?" she laughed out, before turning to face him. "Oh yeah, you!" she exclaimed, pointing at him.

"Who the flip are you?" she yelled. Giyuu cocked his head in curiosity.

"...Flip?" he muttered out. Considering her word choice before, a word like that was... well, not quite what he had expected. Yang immediately flushed in embarrassment, seemingly understanding the question. She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

"I try not to swear around Ruby, ya know? Some bad stuff comes outta my mouth when I'm angry, but well..." she trailed off. "Wait, you still haven't answered the question!"

Before Giyuu could answer, Ruby interjected. "Oh, he's Giyuu! Uncle Qrow found him in a forest and dumped him off to dad!"

Well, that was one way to phrase it.

Before the conversation could continue though, Giyuu raised a hand. "I think we should probably get out of this place before anything else." he noted. As much as he had to admit it was somewhat amusing to watch the two sisters banter with each other, he was not quite in the mood for dying of blood loss. Well, although he doubted it would come to that, he also knew better than to delay something like wound treatment.

"Wait, you're injured!" Ruby exclaimed. Giyuu had to control himself from twitching. "Did that girl seriously break your aura?"

"Aura?" he asked. _Is that some other term from Remnant I'm completely unfamiliar with?_

"Yeah, aura!" Ruby explained. "The stuff that protects you and heals your injuries! Or do you call it something else where you're from?"

"Ah," he managed to whisper, his expression inevitably morphing into a rather sheepish one. _So that's what protected Neo from my sword strikes... Is that something common here? In that case, I... probably look like a reckless idiot, huh?_ "I don't think I have it." he said.

"What?" Ruby immediately yelled. Giyuu covered his ears immediately in reaction, the girl flushing slightly in embarrassment. "Sorry, ehehe... But you can't not have aura! You did that cool thing with the water! You can't have a semblance without having aura!"

"The water is part of my style of swordsmanship." Giyuu simply said, ignoring the looks of disbelief that flashed across the two sisters' faces. "Are you talking about the strange flash of pink light that protected... Neo when I tried to hit her?"

Ruby nodded. "That sounds like aura." she said. "You know what? We should probably just unlock your aura right here and right now if you don't have it yet! Those slashes must hurt a ton!"

Giyuu shrugged. It was probably part of the adrenaline, but frankly they didn't hurt as much as he had expected them to. _Also, could I even have this... aura thing? It seems like it's something innately within them instead of something that's given. Considering Japan, well... isn't Remnant..._

"Ruby, stop." Yang said, cutting off his line of thought. "You've done too much fighting. Let your older sis do this one for you, alright? My aura's recharged enough now that I've sat in a chair for so long." She turned to him and raised her hand. "Now hold out your arm."

Giyuu did so, and the older girl grasped his wrist. _Though I wouldn't be surprised if they're unsuccessful..._

"Alright, here I go." she said, looking much more solemn than he had ever seen her before. _Is this supposed to be some sort of sacred ritual?_ he pondered. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

Then, she released his hand, sighing. "Man, I always thought that thing sounded corny."

And for a brief moment, Giyuu _glowed_. A strange, radiant blue light emitted from his skin, covering his entire body in a strangely warm, familiar feeling protective shield before it disappeared, going away as fast as it appeared. By the end of the ordeal though, none of his wounds were open. Every single one was shut closed, with not even scars remaining.

And more than anything, he felt _different_. Complete in a way that he only recognized now, due to this strange part of himself actually being unshackled. _If I could get back home, I absolutely need to tell the other demon slayers about this. This could... This could reduce the death count massively! It could be a chance against Muzan! A chance to end the fighting!_

"So, you gonna stay silent there, pretty boy? We still have to get home, you know." Yang smirked. "Damn, so that really was nothing but your sword? You gotta tell me how to do that sometime. Would be pretty awesome if I could make a water dragon just by punching things."

"Yang!" Ruby jabbed. "Can't you see? He's still getting a _feel_ for it! You can't interrupt such a cool and personal moment!"

Yang simply laughed.

"I... Thank you." Giyuu finally said, no other words forming at his mouth. "I can't teach you water breathing techniques, because they're meant only for swords. But I think... I think I can teach you something else that may help you fight. Both of you. As a return gift for unlocking... Aura, or whatever this is. And yes, we should probably get out of this place."

_I don't think I've spoken for that long in years..._

"Gee, no need to be so formal there." Yang said, before standing up, Ruby following after her. "Alright! We're off now! Let's go back home Rubes, and let's hope that dad doesn't kill us both!"

Ruby frowned. "Dad sent me after you, though. It's mostly just gonna be you he's mad at."

Yang paled. "Ahahaha, that's funny Rubes." she said. "I'm kinda dead, aren't I?"

"Yup!"

"Wait," Giyuu interrupted just before the two figures exited the club. "Shouldn't we do something about... that man?" he asked, pointing towards Junior, who was on the ground and unconscious. As much as the man seemed mostly angry that his property was being destroyed, he was still a criminal.

"Oh yeah, Junior!" Yang exclaimed. "I almost forgot around him!"

"Shouldn't we report him to the cops?" Ruby offered. Yang shook her head before sighing.

"Look, I'm gonna be honest." she said. This guy? No matter what, he isn't gonna stay in jail for long. I don't know how, but every time I've called the cops on him he's out of prison by the time a month is over. He's just sleazy that way. And well... I need his help on something."

Ruby gasped. "Yang, he's a criminal!" she exclaimed. Yang stepped back, a guilty look on her face.

"I know, I know. But there's no one else I can rely on for what I need to do. Or what I need to find. Ugh, man. It's important to me, Ruby, ok?" she said. "I promise I'll tell you more about it later on, but I just need you to trust me on this one. I'm not doing anything bad, just... I'm looking for something."

"And besides," she said. "This slime just won't flipping stay in prison. I've tried before, remember?"

Ruby paused, her face scrunching up. "I'm still calling the police." she said. Yang sighed in defeat.

"Yeah, I'm not gonna fight you on that." she said. "But you know what? This guy's kind of an assho- douchebag, so I might as well give him a bit of a kick before we leave."

Yang got to work, lifting Junior's body upwards and pulling him into a chair. Giyuu watched silently as the girl tied the criminal bartender up with the same ropes that had been used to bind her previously, dusting off her hands and smiling triumphantly as she finished.

"That should hold him for now," she said. "Now, Ruby can call the cops, and let's get out of here. For real this time."

Ruby nodded, although it was painfully clear that there was something on her mind that was still bothering her. Giyuu suspected inwardly that it had to do something with Junior and the police. Considering the girl had been bothered by the children in poverty, enough to actually _do_ something, it wasn't a stretch to think that the girl was probably bothered by this as well.

Giyuu, on the other hand? He felt apathetic about it more than anything. _It's not fair, but it's just how things are. It's not like I can do anything about it, and neither can Ruby or Yang for that matter. The best we can do is well... At least put him in jail for a month, I guess._

As the two sisters exited the club, Ruby pulled out the bag of fruits once more, holding it in her hand. By the time the trio re-entered Vale's main area, the bag was empty, and Ruby had gained a slight energy to her once more, the same energy that had completely disappeared when she had talked about Junior.

Giyuu trailed behind the two of them, opting to stand back and muse on the events of the day.

* * *

**Later**

* * *

Once again, the bullhead from and to Patch was empty save for three people. From a distance, Giyuu could hear Yang snoring in the seat in front of him and Ruby lightly tapping on the vehicle's windows, the girl gazing out towards the night sky of Vale. It was reasonably clear that something was... well, bothering her.

Giyuu wondered whether it was his place to confront her about it. Her previous conflict had clearly been with Yang, and it... well, wasn't his place to intervene on that particular issue. He had made his opinion silent for that very reason, opting to simply not voice his thoughts.

Still, there was something about the previously energetic looking reaper that he now mostly associate with the word _selfless_ having a complete lack of said energy that was... fairly odd. That was something he couldn't deny. _Now that I think about it, won't I get situations like these more and more, now that I'm hashira? If I ever get home, I would have to work more with others..._

He felt the extremely large headache coming from a mile away. _I'll have to attend meetings, talk to mizunotos, train new slayers... God, why in the world did I accept that position?_

"Giyuu?" Ruby asked suddenly, snapping him out of his thoughts. "How would _you_ deal with the Junior guy?"

Giyuu shrugged. "There's not much we can do." he simply said.

"Yeah, but that's just- it's just-" she sputtered out, before trailing off. "It's unfair! He's a criminal! He hurts people! He hurt _Yang_! But he's probably gonna do that again, even after all this trouble we went through to beat him and the ice cream girl!"

He stayed silent for a while. "There's not much we can do." he said again. "There are many things that aren't fair, but there's a time you have to recognize a situation where you can't do anything." _Just like how I can't get home right now,_ he silently added in his head.

Ruby didn't respond for a brief moment, but her face scrunched up in thought. A few seconds later, she finally sighed, slumping back against her seat.

"Thanks for your help today, Giyuu." she said, much more energetically this time compared to the somber mood she had given off before. "You were really cool! With your cool sword stuff and with that water dragon! I don't think me and Yang would've made it out of there without your help."

Giyuu narrowed his eyes. "You're welcome," he said, because frankly he wasn't sure what else he could say. There was clearly something still bothering the girl, but it was much less... noticeable now. Still, it was clearly there. _God, I really am no good at this. Someone kill me before I actually have to work as a Hashira..._

The bullhead drifted onwards.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long note ahead folks.
> 
> Both the Junior plotline and the "underground" plotline will be addressed later on once more, by the way. This chapter ended on a bit of a somber note, with just a bit of foreshadowing for some problems that will come later on. Ruby as a character is someone with a tendency to just push forwards. This is, well... something that's implied to happen after season 3. She has a lot of grief that's there, but she puts on her "energetic huntress" mode and pushes forward no matter what, putting her personal problems aside. At least, that's how I've seen the character so far. So no, the ending isn't Ruby suddenly becoming happier, it's her pushing things down, and this particular plotline is gonna pop up again mid way through the story, trust me.
> 
> Plot wise, this is the ending of the prologue arc, if you could call it that. And so Giyuu has his aura unlocked, which is a cool thing I guess.
> 
> I think you can already tell that I'm making changes to canon. I admit some people are probably not gonna like that, but oh well. This won't diverge enough to be considered a complete AU, but I'm making subtle changes to the RWBY world, stuff like the Vale underground that's filled with white fang soldiers and lots of faunus.
> 
> And now we get our first look at Yang! I like writing Yang. I don't think I'm good at writing Yang but I get some more freedom with her dialogue compared to Giyuu and Ruby, so she's a pretty fun character to write. And same with Ruby and Yang's dynamic as sisters.
> 
> Also, I'm just gonna get this out of the way. I don't know about Ao3's community since I haven't visited the site enough, but if it's anything close to FFN's community which I'm crossposting in, literally everyone is gonna freak out every time I write a battle scene about who should have won.
> 
> Hence I am making clear that I'm not about to get into a debate about which character is more powerful, so please have mercy and spare your rage on that matter. I've judged the strength of 16 year old Giyuu by judging 19 year old Giyuu. He's clearly outclassed by a higher tier Remnant fighter like Neo who has years of experience above him, but he can at least hold out against her for a few minutes when he uses constant flux. But even with constant flux, he's outmatched, though it's a much closer battle.
> 
> There. That's my statement on it, and you can kindly take it and heck off. The last thing I wanna do is get into an argument about this, and while I don't like being too asshole-ish to my readers, that's just something I wanna make clear. Sorry if I come off as rude.
> 
> Other than that, nothing much I wanna say. Thanks for reading once again. I would love and appreciate it if you could leave a review or a comment, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	5. After party blues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Giyuu talks with Qrow and Taiyang.

In the end, the road back to Patch was a relatively slow paced walk. After her- albeit short- nap, Yang was relatively energized and ready to face the night. Or rather, ready to face a possibly very angry Taiyang. Ruby on the other hand hadn't slept throughout the ride and as a result ended up being extremely sluggish and tired. Giyuu hadn't slept either, but he had become accustomed by now to not sleeping for long amounts of time due to the nature of his assignments.

Even for someone considered a workaholic by other Demon Slayers, he couldn't help but feel as if though his crow as relentless at times. Especially towards the beginning of his time as a _mizunoto_. But such was the nature of how the corps operated. Nobody had any time to rest. Demons were simply too prevalent and widespread for any demon slayer to take breaks. Every minute of rest was one more person killed, and every hour was one more person turned into a demon.

"Aaand we're back!" Ruby exclaimed, huffing one last time as she slumped onto the grass. "Too tired... need... bed... quickly..."

"C'mon, sis!" Yang jabbed. "You should've slept in the bullhead like I did! A girl's gotta get her beauty sleep sometime. And now I'm all fine and dandy to face daaaa-" she trailed off. "Oh, right. I have to face dad, don't I? Please tell me he isn't too mad, Rubes."

Ruby merely hummed in response.

Giyuu quickly stepped in front of the two sisters and knocked on the door three times. Immediately, the sound of loud and heavy footsteps echoed into his ears, and out of the corner of his eye he distinctly noticed Yang slowly but steadily getting more and more pale.

The door opened to reveal Taiyang Xiao Long, in all of his pajama-clad glory. The man looked like he was still deciding whether he wanted to be angry or relieved, quickly switching between the two facial expressions. Finally, he deeply inhaled and exhaled, relaxing his posture.

"Thank the gods you're back. I was really starting to get worried that you and Ruby were in danger as well." he said. "Lemme guess. You found Yang in a destroyed club where she got herself in trouble because she destroyed the club?"

Giyuu nodded. That... actually pretty much perfectly summed it up. Taiyang sighed once more.

"I swear, my lifespan is gonna halve one day because of how much trouble you two get into..." he muttered. "All of you come inside. Ruby go to sleep, it's past your bedtime. Giyuu, sorry but you're gonna have to stay up a bit. I have something I need to talk to you about. Yang?"

The blonde girl flinched, chuckling nervously. "I'm guessing you're about to talk about how relieved you are that I'm safe...? And because of that I don't get into trouble...?"

"Nice try, young lady. But you and I are gonna have a serious chat about this." Taiyang replied. As the man stepped back, Ruby quickly dashed into the house, crashing into a nearby couch. Giyuu and Yang stepped inside afterwards. Inwardly, he did hope that the older girl wouldn't get into _too_ much trouble. She had been reckless and annoying, sure. But still, the girl had seeemed... determined.

That was a good word to phrase it. Determined. Determined to find whatever she had been looking for. That feeling was something Giyuu could relate to, to a certain extent. Having a personal quest and striving towards that goal. Whether it was finding something precious or killing as many demons as possible.

Quickly, he stepped up to Taiyang, lowering his voice to a whisper. "I don't think your daughter was in there just to party," he noted, hoping the man would get the message. As much as the girl did probably need to learn some... cool-headedness, it wouldn't be fair for Taiyang to punish her while _not_ knowing about the extra circumstances that were definitely there.

Unfair for the both of them.

And besides... he could relate to charging recklessly towards a goal. In fact, it almost perfectly described just what _he_ had done until a couple years ago. And he had learnt the hard way just exactly how dangerous and harmful his path had been. It wasn't a feeling he wanted anyone else to experience, a feeling that he would try to _stop_ someone from experiencing if he had the power to do so. So really, it was better to address it now, in a civil, and more importantly, _safe_ way.

He decided to stop there, though. it was no longer his place to intrude. _Gee, when in the world did I get so sappy? I'm sure if Shinobu was watching me right now she would have a good laugh._

"I know." Taiyang responded, to both his surprise and relief. _Ah, so she really has done this multiple times, huh? Enough for him to figure out something about it._ "And that's exactly what I need to talk to her about. Both she and I have been... avoiding the topic for too long." _Oh, in that case, I suppose it's something that concerns both of them._

Giyuu simply nodded.

"But before that," continued Taiyang. "I need to get you to the guest room. It has a sink, a shower, a toilet and even a place where you can wash your clothes. I left behind a pair of my pajamas for now so you can use them for today. Ruby err... didn't actually buy you new clothes, right?"

Giyuu nodded again. The man sighed... in relief?

"Thank god," he breathed out. "I sent that text message and instantly regretted it. If it were up to her you'd be dressed in a ninja costume, all red and black."

The tips of Giyuu's mouth twitched into the tiniest of smiles. That did indeed sound like something the younger girl would do. Taiyang chuckled. "You're not really a talking type, aren't ya kid?" he asked. Giyuu shrugged in response, making the man laugh out loud again. "Anyways, don't go to sleep yet. Take a shower maybe, but I do need to talk to you about something. Now let me show you the guest room."

Giyuu nodded as he followed the man upstairs and into a small but cozy looking room with a bad and a door leading to what he presumed was a bathroom. "Thank you." he said as his host waved goodbye and left the room closing the door behind him. _I guess it wouldn't hurt to wash myself..._

Looking around the room one more time, he took off his haori and placed it on the desk.

_Huh, it's torn._

He made a mental note to ask Taiyang for sewing tools later on as he stepped into the bathroom.

* * *

An hour passed before Taiyang Xiao Long entered his room again. In that time, Giyuu had managed to wash himself, figure out how to operate the washing machine, and practice his forms, making sure not to hit anything inside the room. It was a challenge in the smaller area, but not enough of one to deter him.

Giyuu sheathed his sword once more as the door opened, revealing a pajama clad blonde man looking much more tired than before. Immediately, the man looked at him strangely. "You're gonna go to sleep in that? You know it's fine to use my pajamas, right? I don't mind." said Taiyang.

Giyuu shook his head. "I'm fine." he said honestly. He was after all rather comfortable in his outfit. He had slept in said outfit numerous times, and he frankly preferred it over sleeping in a pair of yellow pajamas with banana drawings plastered all over them.

"Alright then." Taiyang shrugged. "Anyways, that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. I talked to Qrow while you and Ruby were out looking for Yang, and well, do you have any idea why he decided to help you?"

Once again, Giyuu shook his head. By all means, it had been foolish of the man to help a stranger. Still, it was something that had happened and something that he personally wasn't able to comprehend.

"Alright, then. I'm gonna keep this brief." said Taiyang. "You're 16 years old, right? How good are you at fighting? Qrow told me some details, but I wanna hear the words from _you_."

Giyuu shrugged. Yesterday, he would have considered himself one of the better fighters in the world. After all, despite his lack of confidence in his own position, it was an objective fact that he was one of the most capable combatants in the demon slayer corps. But now, things had changed. He was no longer in Japan, and he had been outclassed in combat only a couple hours ago.

An image flashed to his mind. A heterochromatic girl with strange hair, swinging around a razor sharp umbrella. He had needed to use constant flux to even keep up with that girl, and even then he had been on the losing side, although he _had_ evened the odds just a little bit with the technique.

The only question was, how did that girl compare on the overall scale of fighters? Was the girl considered an extremely capable fighter? Or were there much more severe threats out there? Threats that would crush him instantly with the flick of a finger or the blink of an eye.

He scrunched his face up in thought. The only proper benchmarks he had were Ruby and Yang. Yang was a year older than him, and Ruby was a year younger. But how did they measure up to their own peers? _Both of them hold themselves with a confident stature in combat. Would that mean that they're just arrogant, or would that mean that they're considered above their age?_

"I'm okay." he finally said. "I think I'd be able to keep up with Yang and Ruby."

Of course, it was an estimate and only that. But according to Yang herself, she hadn't been able to land a hit on Neo. Giyuu would probably be able to fight her on even ground at the very least. And while Ruby was extremely capable in combat as well, it was also a reasonable assumption to make that Yang would be a better combatant, considering her 2 year age gap.

"Oh, in that case you should be fine." Taiyang said. "Because I'm here to er, make you a bit of an offer."

Giyuu raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Would you like to become a huntsman?" Taiyang asked. _A huntsman? What's that? Is that what Branwen is?_ Giyuu pondered. Immediately, Taiyang's eyes slightly widened in realization and he chuckled sheepishly. "Right, I forgot. Guy from a faraway land. Huntsman are... well, they're people that hunt the grimm. You know what grimm are, right?"

Giyuu nodded, his mind conjuring up the strange, demonic looking beasts that he had encountered earlier in the day.

"Although there's a lot more to it than just that, it's the gist of it. Huntsmen are paid to kill grimm and protect the cities." said Taiyang. "It's what Ruby and Yang are training to become. Yang's gonna try out for Beacon academy this year, and Ruby's studying at Signal."

Giyuu nodded in response. _That... reminds me a bit too much of the demon slayer corps. Beasts that threaten the cities? Getting paid to fight them? Although the training thing is new... mostly demon slayers just go to a cultivator. We do have a training ground but it's not used too often..._

"What exactly are you offering me?" Giyuu finally asked.

"A chance to attend Beaon." Taiyang said. "You said you're 16 so you're technically not of age yet, but well, I don't think the headmaster minds too much. And although you don't have any formal combat records, Qrow and I can confirm that you have combat potential."

"Is that even allowed?"

"Yeah, students with no formal records can try out if they have the support and assurance of an alumni." said Taiyang. "You would still have to pass initiation just like the other students, though."

Giyuu nodded once more. "I..." he trailed off, not quite knowing what to say. On one hand, he wanted at least a chance to try and search for ways to go back home, and going to a training academy would disrupt that goal. On the other hand, he didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, and Beacon, if anything sounded like a decent chance to further hone his skills as a combatant.

_But I'm supposed to be the water Hashira. I have a responsibility that I need to fulfill. Is it even possible that I can find a way home now, though? How much am I willing to risk to try and search for something that might as well not exist? Where would I even start looking?_

He frowned. Despite all rational logic, it felt a lot like a betrayal of the demon slayer corps to accept Taiyang's offer. _My mind is telling me that there's probably no way home anyway, but at the same time, something is tugging me the other way. Am I betraying the demon slayers by accepting this? Am I betraying them for not going on a quest to find something that most likely doesn't exist?_

But at the same time, he wasn't a good Hashira. He was technically the most skilled, but he knew better than anyone that he wasn't leader material. A Hashira was strong and confident, someone who charismatically pushed all other demon slayers forward and motivated them through sheer presence. The flame pillar was like that. The stone pillar was like that.

Him, though? He was just about the worst person possible for the job. Below him the next person to be Hashira rank was someone named Takuo, who was technically not skilled enough to be considered at a pillar level, but certainly held the right personality. _In a way, would I be... helping the demon slayers by staying away from them? By letting a better candidate be the Hashira?_

"I..." he started once more. "Thank you. I will accept your offer."

Taiyang nodded and smiled at him, patting his back. "Great!" he said. "I'll talk to Ozpin tomorrow about it. Now get some sleep, kid."

As the door closed, Giyuu sighed. _There_ , he thought. _I've made my choice. I'll... I'll help the demon slayers. I'll help them by staying away. Maybe without me, the water pillar will have a proper person to fill its role. That's right. I'm not betraying them. I'm helping them. I could help them even more by returning and going down a rank, but that isn't happening so I might as well just stay away._

"I'm helping them." he told himself once more as reassurance as he laid in bed.

As he laid down, closing his eyes, something in his chest called out to something far away, giving him the strangest feeling of longing.

He wished that the feeling would disappear.

* * *

Giyuu woke up earlier than the rest of the family that morning. It was reasonable, considering he was someone who worked in a career where sleeping light was absolutely essential to survive. Demon slayers didn't always have the luxury of staying in inns, and when they slept out in the open, there was no telling if and when a demon would strike from the shadows.

He briefly considered making the family breakfast as a sign of gratitude for taking him in. But on the other hand, the only thing that he knew how to make was salmon daikon. Other than that, his cooking skills were rather abysmal in almost every regard. The one thing he was- naturally- good at was cutting things.

He decided that practicing his forms would be a good way to spend his morning. After all, while the sun had indeed risen, he still had a few hours to kill at the very least. That was more than enough time for him to go over his morning routine and more.

Leaving his torn haori behind after some contemplation, he made his way outside to the Xiao Long-Rose household's rather large backyard. The sun was clearly visible in the sky. The breeze was calm. The clouds were thick but scattered puffs of round, fluffy air. The sky was a clearer shade of blue than most- if not all mornings in Japan.

The entire area felt awfully connected to nature if anything. It was almost unnaturally perfect for a meditative exercise.

Taking out his sword, Giyuu started with the third form. _Flowing dance_ was, well a dance. There was no real other way to describe it. It created long, flowing tendrils of water that moved in harmony with his own practiced movements. It was the best form to start out with for the most part, because it led on well to different forms.

And his morning routine was exactly that- constantly shifting his forms, trying to still maintain a constant, river like flow. No pauses, no breathers, no missteps or errors or mistakes. He needed to _be_ the river. The closer he could get to that trance like state, the closer he would get to mastering water breathing.

And maybe he would be able to master the move he was working on as well. But that was a far ways off.

_Second form, water wheel!_

Spinning around horizontally, his blade traced a perfect circle through the air, creating an expanding ellipse of water. The second form was one he also often used in his exercise because it was a challenge. It was hard to lead into and hard to lead out of. It was usually one separate movement that most people weren't able to fit within a flowing attack.

Still, that didn't mean it was impossible to do so.

_First form, water surface slash!_

Before the trail of water ended, Giyuu shifted his breath once more, and the ellipse of water that had been formed disconnected in one spot. _Good, it didn't disappear,_ Giyuu thought. Like a whip, the trail of water shortened before leading into the most basic water breathing technique, leaving behind a simple trail of deadly sharp liquid.

Now he had to shift it into something else before the trail ended.

_Sixth form, whirlpool!_

Immediately as he shifted his breath once more, the blue trail of water turned into a turquoise one, indicating the wind that had been added to the technique. Out of all the forms of water breathing, whirlpool was the one that shifted the closest to another breathing style, implementing the slightest bit of wind into its movement.

Quickly, the now turquoise stream expanded into a rapidly spinning tornado. _Now, before it ends!_

_Tenth form, constant flux!_

A funny trick about flowing from one move to another was that it had the possibility of generating whole new applications, something Giyuu had learned from shifting _whirlpool_ into _constant flux_. The most powerful water breathing technique was a form that required lots of momentum for it to work. Without said momentum, it wasn't nearly as effective, which was why water breathing users usually used spins to compensate if they weren't physically capable enough. And even if they _were_ , spins were still recommended. Not required, but recommended.

But with whirlpool? The water was already travelling at incomprehensible speeds in a spiral. As such, transitioning smoothly into the tenth form would make it so that there was already a fair bit of momentum built up, even if a person was staying completely still on the ground.

It was a nifty trick, although it wasn't bound to be all that useful in an actual combat scenario. Something like that was... well, too much of a _planned_ move. Useful, but there was unlikely to be actual combat setups where it could be applied properly.

As small drops of sweat started to gather around his skin, he decided to finish the routine.

_Fifth form, blessed rain after the drought!_

His breathing shifted one final time, and the blue dragon around his sword disappeared, leaving behind a thin, sparkling trail of water behind. Just like the name implied, it almost looked like a miniature rain. _Now that I think about it, that was... easier than I expected. Usually doing something like this drains me much more._

Were these the effects of having an unlocked aura? _So it's not just a shield, but an physical amplifier as well, huh? I wonder what kind of other applications it has..._

"Well damn," a familiar voice interrupted. Giyuu turned around as he sheathed his sword, his eyes falling upon a familiar face. Slicked back black hair, a white shirt and long, black pants. Giyuu raised an eyebrow at Qrow Branwen, the man leaning against a nearby tree.

"You know," the man said. "Yang's probably gonna be jealous at that. Her name is supposed to mean small dragon, did ya know?"

 _Why would she be jealous of that?_ Giyuu thought, before coming to a realization. _Ah, right. Constant flux... creates... a small dragon. Would that mean that she would feel as though she needs to live up further to her namesake? I suppose considering what I know of the girl so far, that would make a fair amount of sense._

In the end, he decided to simply shrug. "Why are you here, Mr. Branwen?" he asked.

Branwen chuckled. "What, a guy can't come to check up on his neices?" he laughed out. "But if you're really curious, I'm actually here to check up on you. See if you've gotten in any trouble after I dropped you off with Tai. So yeah, how are ya faring, kiddo?"

Giyuu shrugged. Frankly, he supposed he _technically_ did get into trouble, but the catalyst for said problem had been Yang.

Qrow took his gesture as an "I'm fine," or at least that's what Giyuu supposed. "That's good," the man said in response. "How are Tai and the girls?"

"Taiyang is nice." Giyuu said. "The sisters are... energetic."

Qrow gave out a loud snort. "Yeah, that sounds about right for them." he said, before settling on a much more serious expression. "Now listen, while I'm still sober, alright? I dunno who you actually are, but you're gonna have to explain some of the shit you said to me back in that forest, kid. I trusted you with Tai because I knew he could beat the shit out of you if he wanted, and according to him you're good for now, but I'm gonna need some answers."

Giyuu scrunched up his face in thought before nodding. The man had made a risky gamble with him and had trusted his first impression, which frankly was a stupid idea. Still, he couldn't deny that Branwen had put at least some degree of trust into his character when he had sent him off to his brother in law. That was something that Giyuu appreciated. _Maybe if I give him enough information for a necessary framework, but not the details..._

"My real name is Giyuu Tomioka." he began. Qrow nodded, following along. "I come from a place far away. Not part of the continents of Remnant."

"So you're an alien?" asked Branwen. Giyuu shook his head.

"I don't think so. I'm human. But I don't recognize this place or know about it. You found me the day I woke up in a strange forest after going to sleep inside my house." he said. "And as for the part about the blood demon art, there are monsters where I come from that have strange capabilities."

"You sure they aren't grimm?"

Giyuu shook his head once more. "I'm sure. Grimm are black and white. Demons have green skin and can't be killed unless decapitated."

He supposed that at the very least, that much information was a safe amount to give away. Qrow leaned into the tree, pausing for a brief moment before taking out a flask- which Giyuu now knew contained alcohol- and taking a long, fairly dangerously large seeming swig.

"And since you know this, I'm assuming you're part of some huntsmen-like group?" Qrow guessed. Giyuu nodded.

"My official rank is _Hashira_ , the water pillar of the demon slayer corps." he said. While something like that was information he would have been more hesitant to give away, the word Hashira or Pillar or Demon Slayer meant nothing in Remnant. They were completely empty terms.

Branwen scoffed. "Sounds important." he muttered. "You don't have any academies or training periods or anything? You just go straight up?"

Giyuu nodded once more. "We need the manpower." he said, not directly answering the question but providing enough of a response to give the man a decent mental image of what the situation was like back in Japan. He almost envied Vale for what they were able to do.

Vale was covered by walls. That meant that most- if not all of the city's population was centrallized into once, reasonably large area. So while a single Grimm attack would be much more catastrophic in terms of casualty numbers than a single demon attack in Japan, it also meant that people could rest easy since they were sure that Grimm were outside the walls. Even if a grimm attack killed more on average, there were _less_ grimm attacks because the city was so well protected and the surface area to cover was smaller.

And Remnant had evolved its technology to a degree where they could make sure that actual attacks were extremely scarce. It was a far-cry difference from Japan, where demon attacks were scattered, but so were demon slayers.

"Jeez, so you're like some sorta child soldier?" Qrow said. Giyuu looked at the man strangely, his mouth opening to retort about how huntsmen were technically child soldiers as well...

Except... they weren't. Or at the very least, not to the point that Demon Slayers were. Yang was 17 and still in training. Giyuu had been deployed into active duty at the age of 13, shortly after he had survived the final selection. That was at the very least a 4 year difference, and considering Beacon was most likely a few years long, it would mean that huntsmen were at least 20 or over by the time they completed training.

"It's necessary." he answered honestly. Because frankly, it was. Demon Slayers were scarce as they were and demon attacks were rapid and unexpected. Qrow took another swig of his flask, staying silent. Giyuu decided to do the same, sitting down in a cross legged position.

After a moment passed, he decided to ask a question.

"Why did you leave me with Taiyang?" he asked. He knew that the man had seen potential in him as a fighter and had decided to help him, but why send him off to this household specifically? It was foolish to help an armed stranger like him, and even more foolish to send him to Qrow's very own _family_.

"Huh? I thought I already answered that, kid." said Branwen. "Dude might look pretty goofy right now, but trust me when I say you got nothin' on Tai. If he tried, he could kick your soggy ass in 10 different ways before you could even blink." he said. "Also, I was drunk and my cognition wasn't the best."

Giyuu nodded at that. _So in his own, strange way, he exercised cautiousness?_

He wondered what Qrow and Taiyang's relationship was. It was strange. He was almost certain that they cared about each other like family, but they were also rather nonchalant about the other possibly being in danger. _I suppose it's that they do worry for the other's safety, but they also trust in one another's skill..._

He wondered what a bond like that felt like. It was almost contradictory and it grinded at his mind, but also at the same time made perfect sense.

Qrow stood up, raising a single arm in a 90 degree angle. Giyuu raised an eyebrow at the motion. _Is that meant to do something? Why would he raise his arm specifically like that?_ "Oh well, that's that. It looks like the girls are awake, so I'm gonna have to- OOMPH!"

Before Giyuu could blink, a red and black mass had collided into Qrow, and a familiar black haired girl was hanging off of the raised arm like a monkey with a tree branch. _Ah,_ Giyuu realized. _So that's why..._

"Uncle Qrow, you're back! Did you miss me? Didyoumissmedidyoumissme!?" exclaimed one Ruby Rose, before the girl quickly gagged and hopped off his arm, speeding a few meters to the side while flailing her hands. "You smell drunk again!" scolded the girl as she crossed her arms.

"Part of the package, pipsqueak." Qrow jabbed back, smiling.

"What in the world is so loud here?" a new voice joined in as Yang Xiao Long tiredly walked out of the house's door, rubbing her eyes tiredly. But as soon as the girl saw the presence of her uncle, her face brightened. "Uncle Qrow? You're back early!"

Qrow chuckled once more as the blonde girl gave him a choking embrace.

"Oh, Giyuu!" Ruby called out, noticing him. "You're awake early too!"

Giyuu gave her a small wave in greeting.

"Hey, pretty boy!" Yang greeted as well. Giyuu turned to her and waved again. "You ready for today?" she asked.

Giyuu raised an eyebrow in question. _Did I forget something?_

"You promised to teach us... whatever, right? I don't remember what you called it, either that or you didn't give it a name. But you said it would help us in combat, right?" Yang said. "Well I mean, you don't have to if you want, but there's still some time before we have to eat breakfast, so... you up for it?"

_Ah, right. I promised I would teach them total concentration breathing._

Giyuu nodded as Ruby joined in as well and Qrow looked at him with an interested expression. "Ooh, right! There's some cool super secret technique you use, isn't there?"

"Huh," said Qrow. "Mind letting me stay as well? I wanna see if this is something I've heard of before." Giyuu nodded. Frankly, he owed these people. At the very least he would teach them something new.

With that, the Hashira awkwardly scratched the back of his head. "I wouldn't quite call it that. But yes, it's a style of focus that will help you enhance your physical abilities." he explained. "But I have to warn you, it's not easy. Especially towards the beginning, both of you are going to struggle."

"That a challenge, pretty boy?" Yang challenged. Giyuu shook his head.

"It's a fact." he stated.

And thus their training began.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nothing much to say for now. This is mostly a buildup chapter so not too much going on here.
> 
> Please make sure to leave a comment or review! It would seriously mean the world to me. Thanks for reading once again, stay safe and seeya later.


	6. Obligations and introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The obligatory Ozpin meeting.

Yang wheezed.

 _Let's do a roundup. Legs are tired, arms are tired, crap my fucking neck is tired! That's happened to me like, once in my entire life!_ she recounted, laying in a spread eagle position on the grass. _Well shit, I feel like a complete idiot for making this a challenge. Pretty boy sure as hell doesn't mess around, does he?_

She inhaled deeply and exhaled. Not _total concentration_ deeply, since she was already tired enough. But the normal, calming deep breaths that energized her body- the type that didn't instantly cripple her entire body? Those were very much welcome. _Well, at the very least it makes for a helluva morning exercise._

In the distance, she decided to opt out to observe Ruby, who was going through a similar initiation. Her poor little sister looked terrified after witnessing the horrors that had happened with her, but the girl pushed through anyway. Or at least... tried to. Similar to Yang's first few attempts, Ruby was unsuccessful at even grasping the technique that Giyuu had tried to explain.

Yang had personally gotten it in her 5'th "official" try. And then she had promptly lasted a few seconds before collapsing onto the ground.

Stupid breathing technique.

"Heh," laughed Qrow Branwen, about a meter to the left of her. Her uncle had actually gone before her and had done much better than her- and Ruby, it seemed- lasting 20 seconds before wheezing and sitting down. And on the first try as well! Giyuu had mentioned that it was higher than he had seen anyone go for their first try. Yang had smirked cockily back then.

Uncle Qrow was just awesome that way. Now if only she had been too...

 _Stupid breathing technique_ , she told herself for the second time that day, absentmindedly gazing at Ruby- who was having a surprising amount of trouble with getting it right. To her side, Giyuu's face slowly morphed itself with a slow but steady increase of frustration.

Yang smirked. _Oh, so he's starting to get ticked off, huh? Now how could I exploit this..._

Ruby tried one more time to breathe, once again unsuccessful with the technique. Finally huffing, the sword wielding stranger next to her slapped his forehead before delivering three swift karate-chops to Ruby's torso. Yang made her best attempt to laugh before wheezing once more.

Immediately afterwards, Ruby took a breath and the shape of the air morphed around her. Immediately afterwards, the girl collapsed on the ground just like Yang had done so moments before, wheezing in exhaustion. _Damn, I should've taken a video or something!_

Sighing, Giyuu finally made his way back to the center of the field, already looking tired. Yang laughed again, this time with some more success, earning her a glare from the blue eyed teen. "Alright," Giyuu said. "I... I suppose we'll take a 5 minute break before we start again. Try not to lie down or sit after doing it. It helps in muscle development."

Yang's jaw dropped.

"We're doing this _again?_ " she nearly yelled out of incredulity. "Prett- No, you know what? I might as well just call you a demon from now on out." she said, not missing the boy's small but visible flinch towards her words that disappeared as soon as it appeared. "How long are we supposed to try at this thing for?"

Giyuu shrugged. "When I started we did hour long sessions with 2 hour intervals." said the boy.

"Hour long sessions!?" Yang repeated in disbelief. For a brief moment, the swordsman almost looked _smug_ before going back to his usual nonchalant face and shrugging once more.

"Any shorter won't give you any noticeable improvement." said Giyuu. Yang huffed before lowering her head once more, looking upwards at the sky. "I... suppose we could start tomorrow." he said. Yang's head snapped back upwards quickly as she nodded as fast as she could.

"Thank the gods," she sighed in relief. "Jeez, this is really how you trained?"

Giyuu nodded. "It helps." he simply said. At that, Yang found the ability to grin. Maybe not facing an imminent hour of torture had something to do with having her head clearer. Still, even if this was painful as all hell, she could understand a no pain no gain mentality.

In fact, it was rather contradictory of her not to, considering her semblance was... well, exactly that. _Wait, but now that I think about it..._

"Wait, then how long can you maintain this thing?" Yang asked.

"24 hours a day." Giyuu quickly replied. "But it took me 5 years of training." he added.

_Well, shit._

Yang sat up, inhaling and exhaling deeply and finding her strength returning to her once more. "Well damn," she said, the tips of a grin starting to form on her face. "Then I guess that I'll have to do it in 4, huh?"

Giyuu didn't give a comment to that. Yang fought the urge to lay back down as she got back up into a sitting position. "You know what? Just because you aren't responding to that, I'll freaking do it in 3! Just you watch, knife-eyes. You're gonna be completely Yang-ed away when you see me master this stupid thing."

In response, the boy only raised an eyebrow at her, looking at her curiously.

Yang sighed, hitting her uncle with an elbow as the man snorted in amusement. "Like, you know? Yang? Bang? Blown away? Banged away? And so you're gonna get Yang-ed away?" she explained. "Er, it's funny? Because it's a pun, you know? Wordplay and whatnot."

"No it's n..." Ruby trailed away, wheezing. Meanwhile, Giyuu scrunched up his face in thought for a brief moment before making an 'o' of realization with his mouth. Although it was stifled quickly, the boy made a slight noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

Yang's eyes widened. That _worked_? Out of all things, broody sword kid thought _puns_ were funny? _And it wasn't even that good of one!_

Immediately, she tried to control her expression with some degree of success, keeping the scheming smile that threatened to form on her face from being plastered onto her expression. _Oh, I'm gonna have way too much fun with this!_ she thought with glee.

Just then though, a new voice interrupted, one that belonged to a certain Taiyang Xiao Long. "Breakfast's ready!" her dad said. "If you're all done playing tag out there or whatever, you kids can come back in!"

"Coming!" she yelled back before instantly regretting it. _Alright, maybe not yelling level yet. Just gotta... restore some of my lungs first,_ she noted as she stood up, gazing Ruby do the same from the corner of her eye. Walking back to the house, she caught up with Giyuu. The boy turned towards her.

"So," she started. "Making a move early on my sister, huh?" she teased.

The boy deadpanned at her.

"You're utterly depraved." he said.

Yang burst out in laughter.

* * *

Breakfast was a loud affair at the Xiao Long-Rose household.

Frankly, Giyuu had steeled himself for the experience. He had seen and had been surprised by enough oddities in Remnant, both in the world and the people inhabiting said world. Still, some things- little details, mostly- managed to catch him off guard. Little details like Ruby borderline _inhaling_ a place of cookies with enough chewing speed to make thunder breathing users jealous. Things like Qrow eating with a very _distinct_ , slightly drunk looking grip on his fork but also managing to finish his meal before anyone else.

Speaking of Qrow, Giyuu felt like he was getting a better grasp of the man's character. And frankly, although he understood the _what_ to a certain degree he still had no clue of the _how_. Little details fed him a surprising amount of information. Details like his sloppy but at the same time hyper-efficient eating, and the fact that while his movements looked drunk and sloppy the man never seemed to be in a _bad_ stance. A loose one, yes. But a bad or an unprepared one? Never.

Behind the messy, quippy drunkard was someone who was most likely a hyper capable fighter.

But _how_? It wasn't that it was impossible to become a hyper capable warrior. Giyuu had _seen_ hyper capable warriors with his very own eyes in people like his fellow Hashiras. But at the same time, he had _seen_ how much Branwen drunk from his flask during the training session _and_ breakfast. Even assuming that he had extremely fast recovery speeds, high tolerance and didn't drink as much during missions, the amount of alcohol the man consumed was borderline copious. Giyuu frankly had no idea how the man wasn't falling over and tripping past his own feet.

_Or maybe it's a false flag? Something that isn't actually dulling to his senses, but gives off the aura of someone drunk? That would line in with his posture and legwork as well..._

It was a genuinely plausible idea. In fact, there was only one flaw to it, and that was the simple fact that the man's breath near-constantly smelled god awful, and the _alcohol_ type god awful specifically. _Or maybe considering the technology here, a mixture or potion to replicate the smell but not dull the senses? But who would get close enough to smell him without being in stupid amounts of danger? That just seems overkill..._

And of course, there was also the possibility that the man actually did drink that much alcohol and he was just a whole different species from the rest of the human beings on Remnant.

 _I suppose there's no use thinking about it too much for now_ , he decided before nibbling on what Taiyang had called a "pancake." Ruby had enjoyed it a decent bit, and while he was at least 80% sure that the girl was exactly the type of person to have a borderline dangerous sweet tooth, Taiyang seemed to a pretty good cook.

 _Huh,_ he thought. It wasn't bad at all. New and unfamiliar maybe, but definitely not unwelcome.

"Oh yeah," Branwen said. "Tai, Ozpin told me that he's available at 12 today. And bring the kid with you if you can."

Taiyang piped up, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Wait, what? I thought that it was just me that had to come." he said. Qrow merely shrugged nonchalantly, holding up his hands in an "I don't know" pose, a gesture that Giyuu noted was apparently something that existed regardless of country, time period or even _world_.

"You know how Oz is," Qrow replied. "The guy's constantly either scary smart, scary weird or both at the same time. Crud, he's _usually_ both at the same time."

Taiyang sighed. "I suppose so."

Meanwhile, Giyuu had to wonder who this "Ozpin" person was. He assumed that bringing the kid along meant bringing _him_ along. And he could guess that Ozpin was a leader in Beacon Academy. But from the details and the knowing sighs that the two adults in the room were giving out, the only visual image his head could conjure was that of a deceptively smart clown.

"Wait!" Ruby suddenly exclaimed. "Ozpin? As in like headmaster Ozpin? From Beacon!?"

Qrow nodded, laying back onto the chair. "The one and only."

"Whaaat? No way, why?"

Qrow flicked a thumb over to Giyuu's direction. "Because beach boy over there's signing up for Beacon's initiation this year." he said. Giyuu felt the odd desire to shrink as the attention of the room now shifted its focus onto him. _Is... Is that supposed to be a big deal or something?_

Almost reflexively, he held up his hands in a gesture of explanation. "It was a split second decision made last night." he said.

"Still, that's awesome!" Ruby exclaimed, speeding towards his direction. "You're only 16 but you're enrolling in Beacon! When you get your scroll you have to tell me _aaalll_ about it when you're there!" she said. Giyuu instinctively leaned backwards, keeping a safe distance from the excitable girl. _She might not seem to have the scythe right now, but it can't hurt to be careful, right?_

"Hey!" Yang protested. "I'm here too, you know?"

For what it was worth, Ruby flushed in embarrassment before striking back. "Yeah, but you're gonna make everything sound super scary to try and..." she trailed off, seemingly not quite finding the right words to say. "To try and scare me! And plus, you're gonna talk about boys, and drama and all that boring stuff!" she jabbed back, pouting.

"...Actually, you're kinda spot on with that." Yang agreed after a moment, before a mischievous grin covered her face. "So you know what? I'll talk about nothing but that!"

"Yaaang!" Ruby protested, before turning straight towards him. Once again, Giyuu instinctively backed away. "You're not gonna do that as well, right? You'll talk about all the cool parts of Beacon! Like the weapons! And the fighting! And... And the weapons!"

Giyuu shrugged, pausing. "Sure?" he finally said. Ruby grinned in triumph.

"HA! You see, Yang? I've found a fellow hunter who's _totally_ not into gossip and boys but weapons and fighting!" she yelled.

_I'm... into weapons and fighting? Where in the world did she get that assumption from? And what in the world does being into gossip and boys even mean...?_

"Alright alright, calm down." Qrow said, coming to Giyuu's rescue. "The kid has to pass initiation first. And so do you, young lady." he said. "Don't get me wrong, Yang. You're good, but Ozpin's cuckoo around the head sometimes with this and makes weird decisions that don't make sense until they do. Getting into Beacon ain't easy or simple."

_Initiation? I wonder if it's anything like the final selection..._

"Same with you, kid." said the man. "There's a few weeks before Beacon's initiation. Might as well use that time to practice with that sword of yours."

Giyuu nodded. It wasn't like he hadn't planned to keep a daily practice schedule anyway.

"By the way," Taiyang interjected. "I am _seriously_ buying you some new clothes later today."

Giyuu sighed in resignation. _Honestly, I suppose it's not like I didn't see this coming,_ he thought, solemnly looking Taiyang in the eyes.

"I would like to keep the Haori." he said, grasping the cloth. Taiyang nodded, and that was that.

* * *

When Giyuu had initially seen the large, towering castle that was Beacon Academy, he hadn't expected it to be a _school_. It looked more like a place that the royalty would dwell, in fact. Still, it made sense to a certain degree. The height of the location was strategically advantageous, giving it a vintage point over the city. Its design- while not lacking in flair- was also competent in its practicality, with lots of open areas and large walkways. It was tall, but also reinforced to an impressive degree with support structures.

And besides, what better way to raise moral than to have such a towering structure be the very building where the greatest future defenders of the city were created? With what little Giyuu knew about the grimm, he was at the very least aware that they were attracted to negativity.

Beacon was more than just a school in Vale. Its height and larger than life nature turned it into a _symbol_ that made it so citizens could feel safe and happy.

The bullhead landed on a tower balcony, nowhere near where Giyuu had expected it to land. _I suppose this is just a bit of a shortcut to who we're meeting? The way Qrow described it, this Ozpin person sounds... eccentric,_ he noted. _Although I suppose he's not one I should trust without a grain of salt..._

The door opened to reveal two figures. One was a middle aged woman with light blonde hair and a stern expression. The other was a silver haired man adorned in black and green that looked way too young for his hair to be graying the way it was. _Is that Ozpin?_

"Heya Glynda!" Taiyang greeted, inciting a kind, if not proessional greeting from the blonde woman. "Hello professor, sorry to keep you waiting." he then said. Ozpin smiled, raising his hands.

"There's no problem." he said. "Now why don't we step inside and all sit down? It's rather chilly out here in the wind."

The group proceeded to step inside a large, circular office that was reasonably well decorated. "Coffee?" Ozpin offered, raising the mug in his hand. Taiyang shook his head, and Giyuu followed. He hadn't tasted coffee many times before, but he knew that he wasn't too much of a fan. "Please, sit down." Ozpin said, gesturing to a pair of cushioned chairs.

Giyuu sat facing the headmaster, directly next to Taiyang. For a brief moment, the headmaster of Beacon stayed silent, sipping his coffee for a good while.

"I suppose you're wondering why I called in both of you instead of just one?" Ozpin began. Giyuu nodded his head, slightly exhaling in relief. At the very least, the headmaster went straight to the point. He could appreciate that. "Apologies, by the way. That was a mistake on my part."

"That's fine," Taiyang said, waving a hand. "But I am curious- why bring both of us here?"

Ozpin sipped his coffee again.

"Well for one," he started, "I must admit that I wanted to get an impression on the boy. Qrow's description left me quite curious, you see."

Taiang nodded in understanding. Ozpin continued. "Now, that was my _initial_ reason. But now that I'm meeting the two of you in real life, I have some questions." he said, a twinkle of curiosity in his eye. "For example, how are you breathing so heavily, young man?"

Giyuu froze. _He's sharp! I thought that total concentration constant concealed the physical effects of the breathing... So how does he know?_

"Breathing heavily?" Taiyang asked, turning towards him. "I don't really notice anything..."

"Ah, it's well concealed for sure." said Ozpin. "But if you focus on the air, you can just somewhat feel the distortion of the atmosphere. Frankly, it should be impossible for someone to use up 100 percent of their lung capacity, yet you seem to be exceeding it."

"This is how I've always breathed." Giyuu lied. Ruby and Yang and even Branwen to a degree he trusted. He had seen Ruby's kindness and how Yang had cared for her sister, and even Qrow's hidden affection towards his family. With Ozpin, the man _intimidated_ him more than anything. Not physically, but psychologically.

Around the headmaster of beacon, he had the feeling not just of eccentricity, but of _power_. And a very familiar power. In fact, the man gave off similar feelings to the older and more powerful demons he had faced in the past, except the feeling was amped to eleven.

So while he was reasonably sure that the headmaster was a demon, the man gave off the energy of something ancient. Something that lived for way longer than it was supposed to. Giyuu didn't like that feeling. _Although I probably shouldn't make early assumptions. He could simply be strange, just like Branwen said._

Still, he wasn't going to directly trust the man with his secrets just yet.

Ozpin merely shrugged in response. "I suppose some people just have strange biologies," he said, brushing off the topic. Giyuu narrowed his eyes. _That's... a strange way to switch a topic. Is he really brushing it off like that?_ he thought. He couldn't help but feel as if the topic would inevitably come up once again.

He hoped that his gut feeling was wrong.

"Now in that case, we'll just have you sign here" Opzin told Taiyang, pulling out a form. "And could I see your weapon briefly, young man?" he asked.

Giyuu hesitated. _Eh_ , he thought. _I'm being way too paranoid, aren't I?_

Gripping his nichirin blade, he pulled it out before handing it to the headmaster. Raising it up to eye level, the man briefly inspected the surface of the blade, furrowing his eyebrows in thought. "Did you make this, young man?" he asked. Giyuu shook his head, and Ozpin nodded. "I thought so. Whoever made this blade made it using age old techniques. I must say however, that it's hard to argue with the results."

He handed the sword back. Giyuu took the blade and sheathed it. "If I may ask," Ozpin continued. "What does the lettering on the surface say? I don't quite think I've seen such a script used before."

Giyuu looked the man in the eyes, before shrugging. It wasn't like the question was particularly intrusive anyway.

"Destroy all demons." he said, and Ozpin chuckled.

"Well, I must say that that is quite the phrase." the headmaster said. "I look forward to seeing you at initiation, mister Tomioka."

Giyuu shrugged.

Frankly, just how _cliche_ the words sounded made him cringe.

But nobody needed to know that, least of all someone like Haganezuka.

* * *

And so the days passed on.

Giyuu's meeting with Ozpin went completely without any issues, at least on the technical side. Qrow disappeared again, and Giyuu hence forth learned that the man was often away for important assignments and was one of the most skilled fighters in Vale. Yang and Ruby continued their routine of trying to learn total concentration breathing.

By the end of the week, their time had increased by about half a second. It was... steady progress, he supposed. Although it was slow, he couldn't blame them considering they also had duties like their personal training routines and something called summer homework that neither of them were particularly fond of.

Meanwhile, seeing as Giyuu had almost copious amounts of free time, he decided to train a lot and help out in the town. He visited Ms. Bloom fairly frequently, the woman having initially mistaken him for a faunus due to the sharpness of his eyes. He also helped out Taiyang, which as almost a guarantee considering he owed the man a fairly large sum of help.

And while he was technically broke on Remnant's currency, he had experience in physical labor due to his background before becoming a demon slayer. It was strange, re-accustoming himself to the work, but it wasn't particularly difficult either, especially with how much technology had developed compared to when he had lived in his village.

He worked on the technique he had wanted to try out. Progress on that was... slow. It only spoke to how much he needed to improve, despite his formal position as _Hashira_.

Another thing he needed to work on was _flow_ , but that was much more steady with its progress, especially due to how much aura boosted things like his stamina and endurance. Leading into moves was something essential because it was going to be necessary for him in the future to lead into a _water basin_ when fighting against opponents without aura. And it couldn't disturb him during a fight by requiring his active focus.

It needed to be similar to how reasonably experienced demon slayers didn't need to _keep_ total concentration breathing active by paying constant attention to it. He needed it to be like an on and off switch, not a weight he had to constantly hold in place.

That meant he would need to build and learn a whole new technique from the ground up. Still, it was worth it.

Killing humans using breathing techniques was something fundamentally distasteful, and if possible he would always try and avoid it. Concentration breathing was something made to save lives, not end them. And while Ruby had the flip-side of her scythe and Yang's weapons were completely blunt, his own sword didn't have the luxury of having a blunted part he could work with.

Aura was also something that fascinated him. It was almost similar to concentration breathing in a sense that its applications were extremely varied.

Not that he could do anything with it, of course. His skill with aura was about as good as a toddler.

Still, it was interesting to read about at the very least.

* * *

_**Later, 5 days before Beacon's initiation** _

* * *

Headmaster Ozpin sat down, tapping his desk impatiently. A week! It had been an entire week since the sword that the boy had carried had wormed its way into his head. The texture, the weight, the _color_. Ozpin had seen it before, he was confident of that at the very least.

But _where_ and _when_ was the question. Was it so far beyond his time that the last time he had seen the metal was during one of his past lives? Or was his memory simply failing him? He had searched books and archives and files, but none of them helped either.

Still, something about that blade and it's material was familiar. Now if only he could find out _what_ about it was like that...

He stared at the wall. Wracked his head and memories. _Maybe,_ he thought, _I should start all over again from the very beginning. Start with what I already know for sure._ He pulled out a pen and a paper, beginning to scribble a list of the facts that he was sure of.

Number one, he had seen a blade of that material before. Number two, it was unique in that no other weapon in Remnant used said material. Three, the weapon looked somewhat similar to the sword of one Raven Branwen, and in fact, the boy himself looked somewhat similar to the woman.

Ozpin stopped himself. There was a rabbit hole waiting for him down that particular road, and he wasn't willing to travel down said rabbit hole without proper evidence. For all he knew, the similarities could be nothing but pure coincidence, and quite frankly it was more than likely that such was the case.

 _Alright_ , he thought. _Considering the first two details, the weapon's made by something that's at least IN Remnant at the very least, so it's not alien or something. Perhaps a material usually not used to create weaponary? But that's unlikely as well. That weapon was sturdy and didn't have any noticeable flaws with its design or material. So if a sudden material was discovered to be effective like that, it would be used widely by now..._

So the most likely case was that the material was either extremely rare, or it was something that people didn't have access to any longer. Ozpin leaned more towards the latter.

_But what could that mean? Now that I think of it, that sword was made using manual folding. That hasn't been used for at least a century... Perhaps some sort of heirloom? But even then, how has it not rusted by now?_

The question stirred in Ozpin's head. He was getting closer to the answer, he could _feel_ it. But there was an important detail he was missing, something he felt was integral to just exactly _why_ he felt so invested in the strange looking blade in the first place.

 _Despite the technique used, the blade looks new too. And it looks like Raven's. It has a natural tint,_ Ozpin noted. Raven _is part of this, somehow. Maybe not directly involved, but my thoughts keep straying towards her, and that must mean that she has to do with what I'm missing here..._

_Age. Old age. Old techniques._

Perhaps he had to take a step back and look into history?

Opening his scroll, he shuffled back to an old history textbook, one of the few that had been somehow archived when Scrolls had not been widely used around the continents. On the cover was a familiar world map of Remnant's continents, the one difference being that one continent in particular wasn't blacked out and painted with dark colors, instead appearing as a lush green.

Something clicked in Ozpin's head. _Ah,_ he thought. _So that's the significance of Raven. Of course, how could I forget? The Branwen clan may roam around Sanus nowadays, but they were in other places as well, weren't they? And age! Aha! Of course, that would make sense..._

Ozpin paused. It _did_ make sense, at least until it didn't. The clues all led to one place, he knew that now. His familiarity with the texture, his gut instinct that _screamed_ at him to look further into the issue. The significance of Raven and the Branwen clan.

 _Nichirin_ , the name of the metal. It came to him like a final puzzle piece that made sense of the mental image in his head. One of the strangest metals in Remnant in the sense that it _only_ could be found in one place. Or rather in one particular mountain, a mountain on the north edge of the continent of Arian.

A continent that was so overrun by grimm on its northern half that even the most experienced huntsmen simply stayed away. So _how_ would a teenager too young to qualify for Beacon get his hands on Nichirin? It was just about impossible to reach the mountain, Ozpin was sure of that. The land, the sky, the sea- it was all filled to the brim with grimm.

Perhaps the boy was simply lucky? Or perhaps there was another hidden repository of the metal?

He quickly checked his calendar. There were 5 days left before the start of Beacon. 5 days where he could potentially do something. But would he?

Tapping his desk, Ozpin fell into thought for a brief moment before he finally decided, standing up and grabbing his cane.

First, he would find Glynda and tell her of his absence. That was already difficult enough for him to do considering the woman could be outright _terrifying_ at times, but it was nothing compared to what he would do next. Still, something ticked at his mind, something _screamed_ at him to look for answers. There was something deeper behind this, he was absolutely sure of it. Impossibilities were becoming possibilities, and he knew better than anyone that information was a man's greatest tool in winning a war.

Unfortunately, there was only one person he could go for answers on this. One person who _knew_ more than him about this entire ordeal. Because while Ozpin hadn't ever visited Arian's northern regions, there was _one_ person in the world that knew about the continent's geography history better than anyone.

And no matter what, that person would always be the head of the Branwen clan.

Ozpin sighed, sipping his coffee one last time. _Perhaps I should try asking Qrow first?_ he wondered, before shaking his head. Qrow was only a Branwen in name by now, and the man hadn't even been close to ever accessing the clan's archives of text- not that he would have bothered, of course.

So in reality, there was no other choice for him but to pay a visit to Raven.

 _I do hope that at the very least she doesn't pull a sword on me the moment she sees me,_ Ozpin thought.

Immediately after, he burst out in a full on chortle.

Raven? Not pulling a sword on him?

Who was he kidding?

His laughter dying down, Ozpin started his walk towards the elevator. There was no time to waste, after all. He was about to see an old acquaintance, and may the gods give at least some degree of mercy before he got another migraine from even _thinking_ about this entire ordeal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo. Finally got this thing finished, it was mostly hard to manage because some pacing shit and doing the Ozpin conversation. In the end, I opted for a time skip. There wasn't much to tell in the weeks before Beacon, and I didn't want to fluff out everything with mindless and useless filler that didn't advance the plot in any way whatsoever.
> 
> I'm not sure if Beacon will come next chapter, but it'll probably come pretty soon, so that's cool I guess.
> 
> Just in terms of questions, what do you guys want to see from this story? I have a decent amount of detail planned out, but I'm curious on things that you want to see happen, so if you want to see something you could comment or leave a review. That being said, here are the thing I've already decided and am not changing.
> 
> 1\. The core plot.
> 
> 2\. Teams. (Yall are gonna have a fucking ride on this one lmao)
> 
> 3\. A few of the pairing related bits. (And yes, like 80% of the pairing tags are stupid jokes and you don't need to take them seriously. Worry not, Qrow will not actually get into an intimate romance with his alcohol. Or will he? Who knows.)
> 
> 4\. A decent amount of the character interactions.
> 
> But other than that, lots of things are kind of up in the air. So if yall wanna see anything specific or think something would be cool, feel free to comment or leave a review.
> 
> Other than that, thanks for reading as always, and see you later!


End file.
